Best Practices for Subject/Course/General LibGuides at USF

This guide will help you create a usable, readable and well-designed guide. It lists standards, best practices, and guidelines to follow when creating and updating LibGuides. In addition, USF Libraries at USF Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Sarasota are merging, while keeping unique course and other materials, Subject, Course, and General Guides into a consolidated list. Please review information provided via email on how to effectively merge, update, and review existing guides at all USF Libraries locations.

For more information and links to update progress, please contact a Task Force Member:

• Matt Torrence, torrence@usf.edu
• Gary Austin, glaustin@usf.edu
• Berrie Watson, bwatson@usf.edu
• Jessica Szempruch, jszempru@usf.edu (for Sarasota only)
• Krystal Bullers, kbullers@health.usf.edu (for USF Health/Shimberg only)

• Write clearly and simply.
• Put the most important information at the top.
• Avoid long paragraphs of content. Use lists instead, as they are more readable.
• Less is more! Aim for action content and avoid prose. 
• Break up long lists. Lists with more than 7 items appear long and may not get read.

Images on a page or in a particular box can liven up a page and break up text. They can provide graphical clues about content.  Use only CC licensed, public domain, your own images, or images you have permission to use on your guide and remember to cite.

• In addition to text based resources consider adding podcasts, videos and other multimedia. They can add interest and appeal to guides as well as useful information.
• It's important to adhere to copyright standards when using multimedia.
• The default size for videos can range from very small thumbnails to very large, page sized. 560x315 is one recommended size to use.