UL Guiding Principles
- Leslie, Danica R.
The Website Advisory Working Group was tasked with developing a set of Guiding Principles for the UL digital presence. The goal of this work is to create a framework for decision-making and priorities going forward for the UL website and other web presences.
Our guiding principles were adopted from the University of Illinois University Libraries, which are licensed for reuse under a CC BY 4.0 Creative Commons license.
WAWG will add our own supporting elements under each principle as we determine scope through site feedback review, development prioritization, and feature requests. We view this as a dynamic framework.
Who | This document is owned by the Website Advisory Working Group |
What | The goal of this work is to create a framework for decision-making and priorities going forward for the UL website and other web presences. |
Where | This document will live in Confluence to allow for easy access and editing |
When | This document will be revisited by WAWG on an annual basis |
How | UL staff members may submit feedback and/or request updates to the guiding principles by submitting a request through this form or by contacting a member of WAWG |
Guiding Principles
Focus on user needs
Use data, testing, and feedback for feature development/prioritization
Build for security and respect user privacy.
Ask users what they need.
Design and build for everyone
Design and develop for all users, regardless of abilities, educational level, devices used, etc.
Accessibility & inclusive design
Do less, do it better
Emphasis on continually developing small updates rather than large website releases
The WAWG will be tasked with reviewing site changes and impacts for planning releases
Keep it simple
Use natural, plain language where possible
Design and test with lower end technology, bandwidth. Lowering the barrier to entry based on technology
Eliminate barriers to the user’s ability to access resources
Take a holistic view
Empower users to use resources and perform research
Use clear, accurate, and engaging content
Write content that is easy to understand
Have a sustainable infrastructure
Embody the 21st century library