Know & Go: Documenting Library Work: Lessons We Can Learn from Technical Writers

Have you ever tried to write a how-to manual or other documentation for your library’s processes? Have you gotten overwhelmed trying to figure out where to start, or simply too busy keeping up with your day-to-day work to take a step back and document it?

While most of us know that documentation is crucial to continuity and sustainability of processes in library work, it's still a very easy thing to mentally set aside for a "slow period" that never comes, or write off altogether as too hard. Lessons from the field of technical writing can help us prioritize these important tasks. Though most librarians are not trained technical writers, we can incorporate key tips from technical writers into our work to make our documentation creation easier and more useful.