CofC LibApps Best Practices: LibAnswers FAQs

Before creating an FAQ, work with the LibAnswers contact person for your area. 

Access Services: Asia Williams

Avery Research Center: Erica Veal

Research & Instruction: Gretchen Scronce

Special Collections: Catherine Stiers

Library Technology: Patrick McCarty

Questions

Write the question as a properly formatted question. Examples include:

• Does the library have...?
• How can I...?
• Where can I...?

Answers

• Keep the answer brief, clear, and direct.
• Begin with the most important information, then provide additional details. 
• Use bulleted lists to share key points, instead of paragraphs of text. 
• Use Headings to separate and identify sections. Do not skip headings (i.e., do not apply Heading 4 unless it is organizationally beneath a Heading 3), as screen readers follow heading styles to indicate order on the page. Instead, you can change the font size after applying a heading. 

How to Add Links in FAQs

• Do not link to text such as find here or click here. 
• Do link to meaningful text. Links do not always need to be written into complete sentences. 
  • WebAIM's page on Links and Hypertext offers guidance on creating text links.
  • Links and Hypertext from WebAIM
• Do not paste long web addresses into paragraphs of text. Example: College Libraries Borrowing Information (https://libguides.charleston.edu/circulation) 
• Instead, hyperlink the page title. Example: College Libraries Borrowing Information
  • Exception: It is okay to write out notable and relatively simple web addresses such as library.cofc.edu or libanswers.charleston.edu when you want your reader to know how to find those pages on their own.
• Link to important information directly in the answer text. Do not save all links for the optional Links & Files section. Use the Links & Files section for additional, related links--no need to duplicate links you already shared in the answer text. 

Assigning Topics and Keywords is important for making your FAQs findable, and for grouping them with other, related FAQs. 

Topics

Think of topics as main subject categories--such as Printing, Circulation, etc. It is helpful to assign at least one topic to an FAQ. Ideally, a topic is a something that might have several FAQs assigned to it. If the appropriate category does not exist, you can create it, but these do not need to be overly granular. 

Topics do appear to patrons viewing FAQs on the public site. 

Keywords

Think of keywords like hashtags on social media. Assign as many as you want. Here is where you can be granular. Think of what someone seeking the info in your FAQ might search for, and include variations. For example, if the FAQ is about printing, you might add printing and printer and laptop to increase the chances that your FAQ will show up in the right queries. 

Keywords do not appear to patrons viewing FAQs on the public site--they are a behind-the-scenes tool to make an FAQ more findable.