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Information Architecture Guidelines

To keep our content clear, easy to navigate, and reusable across different purposes, we organize knowledge using the following structure in BookStackNEXT.

🗂️ Shelf: A Curated, Dynamic Collection of Books

  • A Shelf is a collection of related Books, grouped for a specific audience or purpose.

  • Use Shelves to curate content, not to structure it deeply.

  • A Book can appear in multiple Shelves, so avoid putting all unrelated topics into one Book.

  • Examples of Shelves:

    • Newcomer Essentials – Books selected to help someone new understand our church.

    • Leadership Toolkit – Books for ministry leaders and volunteers.

    • Administration – Books related to governance, finances, operations, and facilities.

     

📘 Book: A Standalone Topic

  • A Book is centered around one main topic or area of knowledge.

  • Keep Books focused so they can be reused across different Shelves.

  • Don’t try to cover everything in one Book—break things out by topic.

  • Examples of Books:

    • Church Governance – contains bylaws, decision-making structure, leadership policies.

    • Church Operations – includes facility usage, scheduling, and logistics.

    • Children’s Ministry Guide – curriculum, volunteer roles, and safety guidelines.

    • Bible Study on John – weekly lessons and group discussion materials.

📂 Chapter: A Group of Similar Pages

  • A Chapter organizes related Pages that follow the same format, structure, or theme.

  • Chapters are optional but useful when multiple Pages need to be grouped together logically.

  • Examples of Chapters:

    • In Church Operations: Facility Management – includes facility usage rules, booking forms, cleaning checklists.

    • In Church Governance: Core Documents – includes bylaws, mission statement, and church constitution.

    • In Bible Study on John: Weekly Lessons – each page is one week’s content.

📄 Page: One Concept or Resource

  • A Page should focus on one clear topic, policy, lesson, or resource.

  • Pages are where actual content lives. Keep them concise and easy to scan.

  • If a Page gets too long or covers multiple topics, consider splitting it.

  • Examples of Pages:

    • Facility Usage Guidelines

    • Church Bylaws

    • Lesson 1: The Word Became Flesh

    • Role: Worship Leader

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