Technical Review

Once the editor has completed the content review, the editor will submit the guide for review and the division’s Reviewer will complete the technical review.

Technical Review Checklist

Check your guide against this list of required elements prior to beginning the technical review process. Ensuring that each item has been addressed will expedite review and publication. Technical reviewers should be able to check all of the items on the list.

Guide title and description are clear and well written

The title and description each maximizes the 255 characters available
Description enhances the title but does not repeat it
Dates are included for historic events or people
Useful keywords are incorporated into both the title and description to enhance discoverability
Division, section, or other organizational names are not included; research center names are encouraged in descriptions for search engine optimization
Subjects or format types can be in titles and/or descriptions
For “series” of guides, templates have been used to assure consistency in guide names and descriptions

Manual instructions: https://guides.loc.gov/manual/guide-structure

Guide is assigned to group

Guides co-created by multiple groups use the “Multiple Research Centers”
Changes to available groups, including having the option for “Multiple Resource Centers,” has been requested at [email protected]

Manual instructions: https://guides.loc.gov/manual/guide-structure

Friendly URLs are in place for the guide and all pages

Only lowercase letters used
Complete words with no abbreviations
Words separated by hyphens; no underscores

For page URLs:

Friendly URL for first page is “introduction”

Example: https://guides.loc.gov/13th-amendment/introduction

Subpages have parent page "slugs" into child page URLs

Example:
- Parent Page: https://guides.loc.gov/test-guide-betsy/user-group-dec2021
- Child Page: https://guides.loc.gov/test-guide-betsy/user-group-dec2021/subpage-urls

Manual instructions: https://guides.loc.gov/manual/guide-structure

Subjects & Tags are assigned to the guide

At least 1 subject is assigned, but no more than 3-4
Subjects reflect the guide topic broadly
Tags provide more specific keywords and there is no limit to the number that can be assigned

Manual instructions: https://guides.loc.gov/manual/guide-structure

Ask a Librarian and Authorship boxes are on guide homepage

Both boxes appear on the Introduction page of guide
Ask a Librarian box is “mapped”
Authorship box is “copied”
Both of the boxes are floating

Manual instructions: https://guides.loc.gov/manual/boxes/ask-a-librarian; https://guides.loc.gov/manual/boxes/authorship

Formatting is stripped from copied and pasted text

Extraneous coding removed (i.e.   and font-specific codes)

Example:
~~  ~~
Each guide should have a unique title description; these are extremely important components of search engine optimization; (SEO). Take care to create something that is easy to differentiate in search results. ~~~~

Manual instructions: https://guides.loc.gov/manual/creating-content/rich-text-html

An Introductory box is on every page of guide

Introductory text box is “floated”
Introductory text boxes are titled consistently for easy recognition: “Introduction – [Name of the Page]” (e.g., “Introduction – Green Business General Resources”)

Manual instructions: https://guides.loc.gov/manual/pages

External links include required coding for external link icon

String of HTML code pasted after the “Link Name” in the Add Link window
In Rich Text/HTM, code is inserted in the HTML after the link text (following a single space), and prior to the closing </a> tag

Manual instructions: https://guides.loc.gov/manual/external-links

Links to websites or other LibGuides open in a new tabs

In the Target tab, Target is changed to “New Window (_blank)”
Links to other pages within the same LibGuide, DO NOT open new windows

Manual instructions: https://guides.loc.gov/manual/creating-content/links

Link text is accessible

No text like “click here,” “more,” and “view catalog record” used
Link text is unique when possible
Link text is no longer than a complete sentence (or title)

Manual instructions: https://guides.loc.gov/manual/creating-content/links

Link descriptions "display beneath item title"

Description Display is the default, which places it underneath the link name
Descriptive text is in the “Description” box, not use the “More Info” box

Manual instructions: https://guides.loc.gov/manual/creating-content/links

Boilerplate text is used to communicate access restrictions to databases and other collections

Boilerplate text from manual is used: Boilerplate text for databases is found at https://guides.loc.gov/manual/creating-content/databases, and for items from the catalog at https://guides.loc.gov/manual/creating-content/book-from-catalog.
Boilerplate text HTML is copied and pasted directly from the manual into Rich text/HTML

Special format collection icons are used for non-book collection items when using Book from the Catalog

Manual instructions: https://guides.loc.gov/manual/special-format-icons

Images from the Library’s digital collections are the “medium” size

The medium- or larger-sized JPEG image has been selected from the “Download:” box in the item record
The URL for the image that opens in a new browser tab has been copied and pasted into the Image Properties window

Manual instructions: https://guides.loc.gov/manual/images/adding-image-changing-alignment

Images and captions link to the “item“ page in the digital collections

On the “Link tab” in the Image Properties window the item page URL is pasted into the URL field
“New Window (_blank)” is selected from the Target: drop-down menu
Single pages in a multi-page item (which is not the first page) or single images in a multi-image collection item, are linked directly to that “page/image” by using the “resource” URL

Manual instructions: https://guides.loc.gov/manual/images/adding-image-changing-alignment

Height and width fields in the Image Properties window are blank

Manual instructions: https://guides.loc.gov/manual/images/adding-image-changing-alignment

Alignment is designated in image HTML coding with <figure>…</figure> tags

… tags at beginning and end of image HTML have been changed to <figure> … </figure>
A “class=” attribute is in the opening <figure> tag:

-   class="figure align-right" (align the image to the right, text wraps to the left)
-   class="figure align-left" (align the image to the left, text wraps to the right)
-   class="figure align-stretch" (the image takes up the full width of the screen, text appears above and below the image)
-   class="figure" (center the image to the right, text appears above and below the image)

Manual instructions: https://guides.loc.gov/manual/images/adding-image-changing-alignment

Captions follow the approved format for LibGuides: Creator. Title. Date. Collection Name {optional}. Division Name.

Manual instructions: https://guides.loc.gov/manual/images/images-with-captions

“Alt” text is used for all images

All images have alternative text, including images with captions
Alt text communicates content and context found within an image

Manual instructions: https://guides.loc.gov/manual/images/adding-image-changing-alignment

Images added to the Image Manager Library adhere to the following best practices

File format is JPG or PNG (GIF is OK, but not preferred)
Filenames use all lowercase letters (in both the filename and the file extension)
Filenames do not have spaces, special characters, or underscores
Filenames use hyphens to separate words
Images intended to be used as book covers are thumbnail size, or no more than 600px wide
Images intended to be aligned right, left, or full width are between 800-1024px wide
Files with permission issues are sized for display; the longest edge of image is no more than 300px (this could be the height or the width)

Manual instructions: https://guides.loc.gov/manual/images/image-manager

Embedded media using Media/Widget is from the Library of Congress digital collections

There is no media from YouTube or from any other external media site embedded in the guide
Links to external media use the link content type, or hyperlink from Rich Text/HTML

Manual instructions: https://guides.loc.gov/manual/creating-content/media

The width is changed to 100% and the height is removed from the embed code used in the Media/Widget

Manual instructions: https://guides.loc.gov/manual/creating-content/media

LibGuides Manual

Technical Review

Technical Review Checklist