best practices

Best Practices:

I’ve listed some of these before, but for the record, here are my best practice suggestions. Some of them will apply to all social software, others to one specific type.

1.Know the purpose of your site/tool and make sure everything you do serves that purpose

2. Have a consistent writer/voice

3. Have a consistent style/format

4. Include appropriate “about” and “how-to” pages i.e. tell people what your site is and how it works

5. Include dates, sources, contact information

6. Be concise, Internet readers don’t have the patience or eye-power to read long tracts

7. Make sure you don’t provide too much or too little information i.e. don’t have headings with only one or two links listed under them, but also don’t be so comprehensive that it is easy to lose track of the point of your site

8. Update your site regularly

9. Use self-administered software where possible if you are afraid of losing your data

10. If in doubt, do whatever Ann Arbor does.

Some software-specific comments: 

Wikis 

The wikis that worked had a specific goal and user group that material was tailored for, as in BizWiki.

Blogs 

The best blogs had a single moderator that wrote in a consistent style and were updated regularly, the Ann Arbor site is a good example of this – paragraphs of 7-10 lines in a snappy, concise style.

RSS 

If you are creating an RSS feed at your library, make sure that the subject area is narrow enough as to be relevant to users; if necessary, libraries should have more than one RSS feed i.e. one for events and one for new resources, or one for each subject area.

Social Bookmarking 

If using social bookmarking, make sure that you give users a reason to book mark, i.e. to identify items in their own virtual collections, to notify other users with similar interests of appropriate books. Import tags from Librarything or another venue if necessary to build a critical mass of tags.

Social Networks 

With online social networks, users need a reason to check your page – maybe they can link to the library catalogue from there, maybe you have clever/funny posts, maybe you have a lot of great events to advertise.

Gaming 

Gaming and virtual worlds are a great way to get young people involved in the library, let them have a hand in organizing events and keeping you up to date. If using games for instruction, make sure that you don’t sacrifice learning in favour of making something slick or savvy.

Copyright 

For media sharing, make sure you know what copyright allows.