Flawnson Tong

Cofounder of Comend

January 16th, 2024

Librarey's resource contribution guidelines

How to structure your new resource proposal to best help families.

Librarey began as a humble yet mighty document of hand-picked resources by Sierra Phillips, with the intention of helping families have the "aha" moment of finding a resource they needed earlier in their rare journey. Everything we do is with the intention of making it easier for rare families to get the support they need. If we can help just one family reach the support they need, this entire project is worth it. We have found that there is a certain way that resources are best presented to families. The goal of this guide is to make it easier for you to structure your new resource or resource improvement proposal.

Librarey's resource repository is fully supported by community contributions. If you want to learn how to contribute a resource, follow the steps in this article.

Understanding Librarey

While this isn't necessary to know, you might be curious as to why certain guidelines have been put in place. In order to understand why we've created these guidelines, there's some context we can provide. If you want to skip straight to the guidelines, click here.

Resource links are unique

Resources in Librarey use URLs (web links) as unique identifiers. This means you won't be able to add the same link twice. Different subdomains and pages within URLs are allowed however.

The other key implication of this system is that you can't edit the link of an exisitng resource. Instead you will have to submit a proposal for a new resource and we'll delete the old one.

Resource proposals are reviewed

Proposals for a new resource or an improvement to an existing resource are reviewed by the Librarey team. We may make some edits to your proposal before pushing the changes to the repository. This may take a few days, and you will be notified by email when your proposal status changes.

Resources are unranked

Search results aren’t ranked like on Google or Bing. This means resources with more general categories, resource names with more keywords, or writing SEO friendly descriptions won’t necessarily mean the resource gets more clicks and views. There are a few exceptions to this that we do on a per case basis while we figure out the best way to rank search results.

These guidelines apply here on out

These rules and guidelines were written on January 21st 2024, and so resources and proposals submitted before this date are exempt from these guidelines.

Contribution Guidelines

There are a few guidelines that you should keep in mind whenever submitting a proposal for a new resource or an improvement to an existing resource.

1. Check if the new resource you want to propose is already on the website.
2. Don't use ALL CAPS when writing names or descriptions.
3. Check for spelling and grammar; we're only human!

Link guidelines

• All links must have the transfer protocol included.
Don't omit the https:// part of the url.

www.librarey.com

www.google.com

Do include the https:// part of the url

https://www.librarey.com/

https://www.google.com/

• All links are case sensitive.
These are not the same 

https://www.Librarey.com/

https://www.librarey.com/

Name guidelines

• Names have a maximum character count of 100.
• Acronyms are allowed in parentheses () following the full name of the organization.
Do write acronyms in parentheses following the full name.

Administrative Command, Amphibious Forces, Pacific Fleet Subordinate Command (ADCOMSUBORDCOMPHIBSPAC)

• Symbols like ™️ or ©️ and emojis are not allowed.
Don't use symbols or emojis in the name of a resource.

Cool product ™️

Resource with a ❌

Description guidelines

• Descriptions have a maximum character count of 500.
• Descriptions can be written in 1st or 3rd person.
Do write in either 1st or 3rd person

Librarey is a free search platform for rare disease resources. Launched in 2023 by Comend's cofounders and in partnership with Sierra Phillips, they have grown to over 4500 resources.

We are a free search platform for rare disease resources. We launched in 2023 partnership with our friend Sierra Phillips and since then, we have grown to over 4500 resources.

Type guidelines

• You can only choose one type. To help families find what they need, we ask that you please be as accurate and honest as possible. Here are some definitions that might help you choose the most applicable type.
  • "Organizations" apply to non profits, charities, advocacy organizations, and any other group that does not sell products. The key here is that this resource is free.
  • "Product" applies to marketplaces, service providers, and of course, purchasable products. The key difference here is that users have to pay for this resource.
  • "Media" applies to pdf files, videos, news articles, and other more one-off content that is free for users to access.
  Don't pick "Organization" if your resource is not free.

Location guidelines

• If your resource applies to several states, you can pick the state that your resource is most applicable to.
  • Alternatively, you can choose “Virtual” and specify what states your resource applies to in the description of your proposal
  • Please choose locations that actually apply to a resource. The goal is to reach families who can actually benefit from a resource.
  Do pick the most specific location that applies to your resource.

  Don't pick 'US National' or 'Virtual' just to maximize reach.
• Currently the only locations we support outside of US states are Canada, EU, and Australia. We're working on better support for internationl resources.

Category guidelines

• New resource proposals can only have a maximum of 5 topic categories.
Do pick 5 or fewer categories that apply to your resource.
Don't pick more than you need to just to reach 5 categories.

Thank you for contributing!

When we launched Librarey in October of 2023, we had roughly 2700 resources. Since then, we've grown to over 4500 resources and counting, all thanks to contributions from the community. We're excited to see Librarey continue to grow. Thank you for helping families and supporting our mission.

We truly can't do it without you.