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FAQ Procedures

About this guide

This guide outlines procedures and best practices for creating FAQ questions and answers for the library website. These guidelines are largely user-focused, and their purpose is to make our FAQ questions and answers readable, accessible, consistent, and inclusive of all units in the library.

FAQ answers are intended to supplement rather than replace content elsewhere on the website. They provide an additional pathfinder for our users to locate information and resources found throughout the website and elsewhere on the Internet when appropriate. 

General Guidelines

Consider Our Users

Our FAQ questions and answers should address the needs of our users more so than ourselves. When writing an FAQ answer, use plain language and avoid jargon. Be concise - most users skim, so shorter is better. 

Make sure your Content is Reliable and Up-to-Date

Libraries are trusted sources of information for our users. We want to make sure that any content we make publicly available is as accurate as possible. This involves a lot of maintenance, as we need to make sure our FAQ questions and answers aren't outdated and that our links work.

  • Keep answers brief!
  • Link out to other areas of the website where further details are available - this makes it easier to maintain FAQ content in the longer term.
  • Include media content (e.g. a video) if it adds value to the answer.
  • Ensure media sources used are stable, trust-worthy, and properly cited.

Make Answers Easier to Find

  • Make sure to assign all of the relevant topics and keywords to your answers to make them easier to find - they help our users browse and filter content more effectively.
  • Use topics and keywords that are already populated in the LibAnswers system. You can add more of your own keywords if needed.
  • Think about the words that users might associate with the question and include them in the keywords list for your answer. 

Plan for the Future

  • Keep in mind that the FAQs you create will need to be maintained regularly in the future so be selective about what you choose to create.
  • Be intentional in creating content that can be updated as easily as possible.
  • Make sure that your FAQ questions and answers are vetted by the appropriate staff or departmental contact before publishing to the website. 
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