No Longer Missing: Tools for Connecting the Library with the Course Management System

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No Longer Missing: Tools for Connecting the Library with the Course Management System

3/16/2004

By Elizabeth PyattBy , Loanne Snavely

Libraries and course management systems are two of the larger infrastructure investments made by colleges and universities. Too often, they are treated as stand alone systems and organizations, even though student learning is greatly affected by each. In this Viewpoint, Elizabeth Pyatt and Loanne Snavely describe Pennsylvania State University's efforts to better integrate these two campus resources.

One of the benefits of using a course management system (CMS) such as WebCT, Blackboard, or ANGEL is that course materials, including the syllabus, course schedule, course files and notes, discussion boards, course links and quizzes can be accessed from one location. Yet the role of the campus library generally has been peripheral, outside of the CMS environment. Some systems provide a link to the library homepage or to a set of generic Web resources, but that has been the extent of the integration.

While a link to the library homepage is a good start, many students are easily disoriented by the many layers of resources available at the library Website. The Penn State University Libraries subscribes to over 300 citation and full-text databases and offers a wide range of multimedia content in addition to traditional print materials. With such an array of content across disciplines, it is difficult even for instructors to keep current with the latest library resources for their discipline. For undergraduate students inexperienced with research methodologies, it is even more problematic to find the relevant research materials for their courses. Out of confusion and frustration, many students simply turn to the Internet, bypassing the quality resources purchased by the Libraries.

To address these issues, Penn State decided to leverage its CMS software, ANGEL, to "push" resources for discipline specific library materials into individual courses. To "bring the Library to the student," Penn State University has developed a suite of three ANGEL Library tools: a Subject Guide tool listing course-specific library resources, a Reserves tool which generates direct links to course-specific Library Reserves material, and a link to the Penn State Libraries ASK service which includes opportunities for live chat, an e-mail question form, and contact phone numbers.

The Subject Guide tool is a template used by subject specialist Librarians to generate a Web page listing resources grouped by type. Resources include links to suggested article databases; search tips and suggested keywords; call numbers; basic bibliography for books; and links to additional databases, multimedia content and Web sites. Pre-programmed links to informational databases to which the Penn State Libraries have subscribed are included, and students can go directly to these databases from inside ANGEL. The guides can be duplicated or modified for similar courses, even across different campuses within Penn State. Both specialist librarians and instructors have the option of viewing, exporting and adding to the HTML code, thereby contributing other Web references. Librarians can also link to subject guides already created on the libraries Web pages.