LibGuides Best Practices: Big Picture Ideas

• Guides are Webpages
  • ​Design them as you would any webpage .. . .thoughtfully
• Types of Guides
  • ​Subject Guides
  • Course Guides
  • Topic Guide
  • How-to Guide
• LibGuides are Works in progress
  • ​always changing, updating
  • LibGuides aren’t static

• Reduce Cognitive Overload
  • ​Cognitive overload occurs when a student is overwhelmed with info that needs to be processed before learning can occur
    • Three types of Cognitive Load

i.You Manage Intrinsic Load—Which is the amount of processing required to learn the basics of the material

ii.You Reduce the Extraneous Load—Which occurs when cognitive processing is overtaxed or the information is disorganized or irrelevant

iii.You Promote the Germane Load—which is when verbal/nonverbal materials are used and learners interact with them to create personalized guidance

• Foundational Elements—Key Strategies/Ideas for Admin level users
  • Consistency is King---Use Templates
    • A template or blueprint is a LibGuide that you use for the sole purpose of allowing other guide authors to to reuse when they go to create a new guide. 
  • Create a Style Guide
    • A style guide is an internal/unpublished (or private) guide where you define internal 'rules' for your authors. Basically, a checklist for your authors to make sure they meet your basic requirements. Style guides can cover things such as number and size of columns, font and size of text
  • Create a Storage Guide

    • A storage guide is simply a place for you to put pages & boxes that people can reuse in their own guides.

Talia Richards—Springshare

Andy Herzog  UT Texas at Arlington   

Cognitive load theory is based on the idea that cognitive capacity for learning is limited and that learners are often "overwhelmed by  the number of information elements and  their interactions that need to be processed simultaneously before meaningful learning can commence."  See Little, Jennifer J. (2010)  "Cognitive Load Theory and Library Research Guides"  Internet Reference Services Quarterly 15:1, 53-63.