Writing for the web

Best Practices

Links should be

• for additional context or information NOT for advertising.
• established pages with few to no ads (where possible), e.g., government, education, nonprofit sites.
• age appropriate.
• without limitations - they should NOT require registration to view content (even if free).

Business Pages

• We don’t link to businesses unless they provide a service to the library: sponsor prizes for SRP, host a free class, etc.
  • Links should be limited to “Thank you” posts on SRP webpage or a link within the blog post promoting the class.
• The library website exists to promote the library system and its services; not to promote other nonprofits, political parties, or local businesses. If you believe a link is the best source for information on a topic, link it.

Community Information

Link content which is helpful to the community:

• Local government websites.
• Local school websites.
• Local history websites (make sure they are legitimately researched).

Link content to avoid:

• Local business websites – we do not promote local business owners.
• Local political parties – we do not engage in political discourse.

Requests to include local information on the website for the community

All content on our website is our responsibility. We do not host content for other groups unless we have a partnership with them. We will link to their website if it is valuable to the rest of the community.

Example: Suppose a local history group has a collection of historic photographs of the county. If we formed a partnership with the group to house the physical collection and display it online, then that would be a reason to host their content. We would need to retain rights to display or not display images as we see fit. If the group wishes to retain ownership of the images, then they would need to host a website of their own, and we would consider linking to it. In any situation ask:

• Who will maintain the content?
• Who has ownership of the content?
• Who will do the research?
• Who will create the design?

The library can’t take on every community project. This would be a branch or department decision if they want to enter a partnership, but make sure they understand the work involved in adding content to the website.

In the best case scenario, either the branch/department or community group would be responsible for:

• Research, with appropriate citations
• Digitizing the images/content (expect images in digital format, and text in word/notepad/pdf format. Text must be able to be copied and pasted from a digital document)
• Proper attribution/copyright (ask for proof of copyright compliance, be prepared to explain copyright)

Webmaster would be responsible for:

• Making sure copyright law is enforced
• Design and layout of pages
• Page navigation