Library Community Web Guidelines

Library community guidelines for web design, web accessibility, and web-related administrative strategies.

• Wiki
• Issues
• Ost.io discussion forum

Contents

Note: This organizational structure is tentative and already outdated. It will be updated at a later time.

• Usability
  • General layout
  • Navigation
  • Page content
  • Search functions
  • Subject guides
  • Library hours
  • Database lists
• Accessibility
  • Mobile-friendliness and responsive design
  • Text readability
  • Colorblindness accommodation
  • Screen reader accommodation
  • Legacy browser support
• Administration and Management
  • Agile methodology
  • Development cycle
  • Usability testing
  • Management and decision-making

Purpose

Libraries increasingly rely on web platforms for delivering services and bibliographic resources. However, in most cases, libraries do not have a comprehensive strategy for managing an effective web presence. Each individual library ends up reinventing the wheel.

This document establishes basic guidelines libraries can follow to have an effective web presence.

Values

These guidelines are shaped by the following values:

• Usability - Above all else, the library's web presence should be easy to use and should meet users' needs and expectations.
• Accessibility - The library's web presence should be accessible to as wide an audience as possible. User disabilities should be accommodated. The web presence should be structured and formatted in a way that is readable to a wide range of devices, such as desktop computers, mobile devices, legacy browsers, and screen readers.
• Agile development and management processes - The library's web presence should be managed in a way that allows rapid response and short, iterative release cycles to meet user needs. The needs of users should take precedence over the preferences of librarians. Design by committee should be avoided at all costs.

Individuals and interactions over processes and tools. Working software over comprehensive documentation. Customer collaboration over contract negotiation. Responding to change over following a plan.

- Manifesto for Agile Software Development, http://agilemanifesto.org/

Getting Involved

The project is divided into three phases:

• Research - Gathering sources. We will collect published studies, standards, and quality articles. Sources will be collected in the wiki.
• Review - Evaluating sources. We will look for dated information and determine the scope of sources. Some sources will be eliminated at this point.
• Build - Establishing specific recommendations and creating a document.

The issue tracker is the primary communication channel for this project, as well as the to-do list. An Ost.io forum is also available for communication. The wiki is where sources will be collected and where draft documents will live. A final publication channel is yet to be decided.

Future

Each year, we will build a new branch for this project. New sources will be examined, and the document will be modified accordingly. A new edition will be published.