Library Technology R E P O R T S Expert Guides to Library Systems and Services
Learning Management Systems: Tools for Embedded Librarianship
John J. Burke and Beth E. Tumbleson
alatechsource.org
American Library Association About the Authors
Library Technology John J. Burke is the director of the Gardner-Harvey Library on the Middletown regional campus of Miami Uni- REPORTS versity (Ohio) and holds the rank of principal librarian. John is a past president of the Academic Library Associa- ALA TechSource purchases fund advocacy, awareness, and tion of Ohio and recipient of its Jay Ladd Distinguished accreditation programs for library professionals worldwide. Service Award, a former chair of the Library Council of Volume 52, Number 2 the Southwest Ohio Council on Higher Education and a Learning Management Systems: current board member of OhioNET. He holds an MS in Tools for Embedded Librarianship library science from the University of Tennessee and a ISBN: 978-0-8389-5970-1 BA in history from Michigan State University. John has American Library Association worked in library administration, public services, instruc- 50 East Huron St. tion, collection development, web design, and systems. Chicago, IL 60611-2795 USA His scholarship centers on LMS embedded librarianship, alatechsource.org makerspaces, and technology for library staff. 800-545-2433, ext. 4299 312-944-6780 Beth E. Tumbleson is assistant director of the Gard- 312-280-5275 (fax) ner-Harvey Library on the Middletown regional campus Advertising Representative of Miami University (Ohio) and holds the rank of associ- Patrick Hogan ate librarian. She earned her MS in library science from [email protected] Simmons School of Library Science and an MA in church 312-280-3240 history from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. She also Editor earned a BA in English and French from Dickinson Col- Patrick Hogan lege. Beth has worked as an academic, high school, and [email protected] corporate librarian. She has worked in library adminis- 312-280-3240 tration, distance library services, instruction, and col- Copy Editor lection development. Her scholarship focuses on LMS Judith Lauber embedded librarianship and academic integrity. Production Tim Clifford and Alison Elms Abstract Cover Design Alejandra Diaz Learning management system (LMS) embedded librarianship is partnering with faculty to deliver research assistance for students right in their LMS course sites. This issue of Library Technology Reports (vol. 52, no. 2), “Learning Management Systems: Tools Library Technology Reports (ISSN 0024-2586) is published eight times a for Embedded Librarianship,” describes the LMS envi- year (January, March, April, June, July, September, October, and Decem- ronment alongside the larger online resource environ- ber) by American Library Association, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611. It is managed by ALA TechSource, a unit of the publishing department of ment of academic libraries. Topics include options for ALA. Periodical postage paid at Chicago, Illinois, and at additional mail- adding digital collections and finding tools; methods ing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Library Technology for creating course-specific content; and online tools Reports, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611. for communication, collaboration, and citing sources. Trademarked names appear in the text of this journal. Rather than identify The trend of LMS embedded librarians is considered, or insert a trademark symbol at the appearance of each name, the authors as well as underlying principles of universal design, and the American Library Association state that the names are used for editorial purposes exclusively, to the ultimate benefit of the owners of the instructional design, accessibility, and copyright. trademarks. There is absolutely no intention of infringement on the rights of the trademark owners. Get Your Library Technology Reports Online!
Subscribers to ALA TechSource’s Library Technology Reports can read digital versions, in PDF and HTML for- mats, at http://journals.ala.org/ltr. Subscribers also have access to an archive of past issues. After an embargo alatechsource.org period of twelve months, Library Technology Reports are Copyright © 2016 available open access. The archive goes back to 2001. John J. Burke and Beth E. Tumbleson All Rights Reserved. Subscriptions alatechsource.org/subscribe Contents
Chapter 1—LMS Embedded Librarianship and the Educational Role of Librarians 5 LMS Embedded Librarianship 5 Responding to Higher Education Development and Challenges 6 The LMS Environment 7 The LMS Embedded Librarian Opportunity 8 Notes 8
Chapter 2—Digital Collections 10 LMS Embedded Librarianship 10 Digital Collections 11 Full-Text Articles 11 E-books 12 Dissertations and Theses 12 Videos 13 Images 13 Audio 13 Data Sets 15 Open Access 16 Open Educational Resources 16 Notes 16
Chapter 3—Search Systems and Finding Tools 17 LMS Embedded Librarianship 17 Index-Based Discovery Services 17 Discovery Service 18 Databases 19 Search Engines 20 Portals 21 Notes 21
Chapter 4—Choosing Content-Creation Products 23 The LMS Embedded Librarian as a Content Creator 23 Course and Subject Guides 23 Presentations 24 Screencasts 25 Interactive Tutorials 25 Collections of Instructional Content 26 Best Practices for Building Instructional Guides, Presentations, and Tutorials 26 Notes 27
Chapter 5—Communicating, Collaboration, and Citing 28 LMS Embedded Librarianship 28 Communicating with Students 28 LMS Collaboration Tools 29 Web Conferencing 30 Citation Tools 32 Notes 32 Contents, continued
Chapter 6—Universal Design and Copyright Considerations 34 The Impacts of Universal Design and Copyright on LMS Embedded Librarianship 34 Universal Design 34 Following Instructional Design Principles 34 Accessible Design Considerations 35 Responsive Design 35 Copyright Considerations in LMS Embedded Librarianship 35 Notes 36 Chapter 1
LMS Embedded Librarianship and the Educational Role of Librarians
LMS Embedded Librarianship Embedding themselves in classes to interact with students about library research corresponds to Librarians have long sought new ways to reach out to a larger librarian role as educator. This role is more their users and support those users’ research needs. crucial than ever, as research into first-year college In the age of limited collections of printed materials, student experiences shows that students are often libraries drew researchers and readers into their edi- overwhelmed by the transition to using academic fices to make use of the library’s resources. With the databases.2 Opportunities to connect with these stu- digitization of many materials, librarians now serve a dents who are new to the academic enterprise, as well much more physically distributed clientele that uses as with continuing students, increases the chances for the library’s resources from home and mobile devices students to benefit from the modeling of research prac- as well as in-house. The movement of librarians into tices and to provide feedback on searching choices. learning management systems (LMSs) has been a Library directors have risen to this challenge, identi- TechnologyLibrary Reports natural progression as higher education institutions fying library instruction services as the most impor- embraced these tools for supporting teaching and tant library service function in one national survey.3 learning. Faculty members have gravitated toward Institutional support for this role is clear, as is the using a secure, online means of interacting and shar- impetus for instruction in information literacy from ing course materials with their students, and librar- professional bodies. The newly developed Framework ians have followed along to seize new opportunities to for Information Literacy for Higher Education from the market and supply their services. Association of College and Research Libraries was The larger idea of embedded librarianship was intended to provide new approaches for teaching stu-
suggested by Barbara Dewey in her 2004 article on dents the essentials of information literacy in collabo- alatechsource.org library collaboration within institutions.1 She recom- ration with teaching faculty.4 mended that librarians become embedded in vari- LMS embedded librarianship takes the embed- ous forms and facets of university life. Being embed- ding concept and librarians’ educational role into the ded might involve serving on university or academic virtual environment of the LMS. Embedded librari- department committees, being located in faculty ans connect with faculty, who add the librarians to
office areas or academic program buildings, or offer- their LMS course sites in both online and face-to- 2016 February/March ing library services to university functions like grant face courses. The librarian then adds links to library seeking and departmental research teams. Embed- resources, screencasts on using databases or working ding has come to be practiced by physically embed- through the steps of research, citation guidance, and ding librarians in these ways, but also by creating more. The librarian becomes a member of the course, collaborations between librarians and faculty in the with full access to assignments, course materials, dis- classroom. Librarians assist faculty with research cussion forums, and other resources provided by the assignment design and guide students in the practices instructor. This access gives the librarian insights into and skills they need to successfully research topics. the course beyond what is typically available when
5 Learning Management Systems: Tools for Embedded Librarianship John J. Burke and Beth E. Tumbleson planning a one-shot instruction session. It also pro- online learning to faculty.8 The practices that embed- vides new opportunities to reveal fitting library ded librarians have developed are available for others resources to students in the context of the course. to adapt, improve, and use. Embedded librarians now have an avenue to gain- ing student attention, affixing library resources and librarian guidance to assignment pages and within The Increasing Use of Open Educational course modules, and impacting students for the dura- Resources (OERs) tion of the course through pages of linked resources and participation in class discussions. Broad concerns about college affordability and a will- ingness among faculty to share course materials and use the materials of others have driven the creation of Responding to Higher Education open educational resources (OERs) over the past two Development and Challenges decades. Repositories of OERs have been created by individual faculty members or associations to share In addition to the motivations above, LMS embedded learning objects, including everything from video librarianship can also address four current trends and tutorials and quizzes to textbooks, with their col- challenges in higher education: leagues at no or low cost. “Open” items are generally licensed so that they can be shared with students for • the rise of online learning free as well, using established systems such as Cre- • the increasing use of open educational resources ative Commons licensing.9 The aim is to produce high- (OERs) quality teaching resources that can be shared digitally • the need to improve digital literacy with a wide audience, possibly saving students from • the focus on student success high textbook costs and educators from reinventing the wheel. The LMS provides a structure in which to link or embed OERs for a course. The Rise of Online Learning As faculty members supplement their coursework with freely available, shared educational resources, Students continue to choose online learning options in librarians can play multiple roles in the process. They significant numbers. Somewhere between 5.2 million may serve as locators and gatherers of OER content, and 7.1 million students were enrolled in at least one helping to connect interested faculty with items that distance education course as of 2013, and while the will work within their disciplines, at the right level growth rate of online enrollments has slowed, they of study, and with the proper focus for the specific continue to grow faster than overall higher education courses.10 Academic libraries have served as funders enrollments.5 This count of online students is limited and hosts for OER projects, helping to support the to completely online courses and does not include efforts of content creators and ensuring that their hybrid or blended courses, which include a significant work will be available over time.11 Librarians can percentage of online instruction time. Many students also supplement digital OER content with articles, are learning in partially or fully online settings or e-books, and other licensed database content that can with significant support from online resources. be seamlessly linked from an LMS course site. Embed- This fact provides an opportunity for librarians ded librarians can build relationships with faculty February/March 2016 to serve these online students. Bell identified digital that help in all of these aspects of providing OERs, uti- education as an increasing revenue source for insti- lizing the searching and collecting skills of an individ- tutions and a chance for librarians to reach out and ual who is also knowledgeable about the course con- support students and faculty.6 The growing digital tent and assignments. nature of the library collection and the inability of online students to visit the library push librarians alatechsource.org to become involved. Librarians are no strangers to The Need to Improve Digital Literacy online communication with users, but such communi- cation has often been limited to questions from indi- While the definition of digital literacy remains in flux, viduals and passive provision of resources on library educators at all levels see improvements in students’ websites. There is no time like the present to become digital literacy as crucial. The range of elements more active in supporting online education. A sur- included in the term include applying technology in vey of academic library directors revealed that fewer educational activities and evaluating digital sources than 50 percent of them believed that their libraries of information. Current approaches to improving digi- were prepared to support students online.7 Another tal literacy suggest preparing higher education faculty
Library Technology ReportsLibrary Technology report provided examples of how academic libraries to assist students in gaining greater skill in using tech- could provide expertise on instructional design for nology, along with including digital literacy in the
6 Learning Management Systems: Tools for Embedded Librarianship John J. Burke and Beth E. Tumbleson curriculum.12 Students would become more comfort- clearly the importance of their involvement with stu- able with the various facets of digital literacy, from dents and to make a case for the best way to imple- creating online presentations and videos to choosing ment future programs. Embedded librarians can help appropriate sources for their research from search this effort by doing what they do well: becoming part engine results. The goal would be to make sure that of courses, understanding faculty expectations, and students have the skills to make use of technology collaborating with faculty to impact students at the now and in the future, in academic coursework and moments of greatest need for research assistance, An the workplace. important element of embedded librarianship is that The common connection here for faculty and it often offers prolonged opportunities for the librar- librarians is that digital literacy overlaps with infor- ian to interact with students and to see the growth mation literacy, and librarians are used to working in of their skills over the duration of the course. Also, digital environments and using technology. While aca- Bell stated that he expects increased opportunities to demic librarians may feel that their institutions have use student data to measure student competencies in only a passing interest in information literacy, paying research and related skills.16 These learning analytics attention to it only in connection with accreditation measures can be and have been easily implemented or academic integrity campaigns, there appears to be within an LMS, which once again puts the embedded sustained interest in digital literacy. This is partly due librarian right at the heart of a key area of measuring to the fact that as digital tools and practices continue student achievement. to proliferate and change, there are endless new per- mutations of digital literacy to discuss.13 Here again, putting librarians in the midst of an online learning The LMS Environment environment allows them to connect with students on questions of digital literacy. The academic library Increases in online learning and in use of LMSs at profession is providing new tools for these librari- institutions for both online and face-to-face courses ans through the Framework for Information Literacy, have made LMS embedded librarianship much more which should help practitioners communicate liter- feasible and all the more important for librarians. The acy concepts to students and faculty alike.14 The LMS combination of online courses, hybrid courses, and embedded librarian is situated on the front lines of face-to-face courses leads to increasing use of LMSs. connecting information and digital literacy to course In a 2014 EDUCAUSE survey, 86 percent of faculty activities, whether or not they are formally adopted respondents reported using an LMS in at least one of into the curriculum. their courses; 83 percent of student respondents in the same survey reported using the campus LMS in at least one of their courses, and 56 percent used the
The Focus on Student Success LMS in most or all of their courses.17 The opportuni- TechnologyLibrary Reports ties are there for embedded librarians to reach stu- Student success, as measured by graduation and dents and impact their research success. retention, is a crucial concern for all institutions. A The LMS market contains a number of major com- fundamental motivation is the desire to see all stu- panies. The largest LMS companies in the United dents succeed in earning degrees and meeting their States in terms of numbers of institutions served are educational goals. A very practical motivation is the (in order) Blackboard, Moodle, Canvas, BrightSpace need for student tuition dollars, paid by continuing (D2L), and Sakai. There has been much merger and students, to sustain the institution. For public insti- acquisition activity in the market over time, with
tutions in some states, there is the added motivation Blackboard taking on a number of other systems and alatechsource.org of maximizing the amount of state funding the insti- maintaining a dominant presence. Blackboard cur- tutions receive by increasing student graduation and rently has a 33.5 percent share of US institutions, not retention rates. Educators and administrators are in including installations of Angel, a formerly indepen- higher education to see students learn and complete dent LMS that Blackboard still offers under its own their objectives, and librarians share that aim. name. Canvas is currently growing fastest, with a 40
Academic librarians are trying a variety of meth- percent increase in installations between 2013 and 2016 February/March ods for supporting students and keeping them on 2014, while the other players have remained stable. 18 track to complete courses and graduate. Many of the Tumbleson and Burke’s survey of embedded instructional efforts practiced by librarians have the librarians also found that the companies discussed underlying goal of making students more success- above, in general, were the dominant LMS vendors.19 ful in their assignments. Now, librarians are trying The notable exception was Canvas, which had only to quantify the impact they have on students and to a small number of installations at that time. It is find ways to measure their value.15 Identifying meth- good to be aware of the other players in the market, ods of doing so will allow librarians to demonstrate beyond the one currently used at a given institution,
7 Learning Management Systems: Tools for Embedded Librarianship John J. Burke and Beth E. Tumbleson as universities and colleges are prone to change sys- a separate “ask the librarian” board or forum for tems, driven largely by economics and user experi- students’ research questions. Other librarians may ence. The authors’ institution, for example, is now on monitor a general class discussion board, perhaps its third LMS since 2009. Generally, the library will participating only during times preceding research have little input into the choice of an LMS, and librar- project due dates. The board or forum offers an ians will need to become familiar with the platform opportunity to respond to individuals’ questions in that is available. a group format so that the entire class can benefit from the responses. It is also a place to post tips or highlight resources away from the embedded Largest LMS Companies librarian resources page. • Web conferencing tools are provided for syn- Blackboard chronous interaction with individuals, groups, www.blackboard.com or the entire class, perhaps involving just chat exchanges, but more likely involving shared video Moodle information as well. They can be used for appoint- https://moodle.org ment-based research consultation meetings with students in which the librarian demonstrates use- Canvas ful databases and suggests directions for research www.canvaslms.com to take. They could also serve as the location of an online version of a face-to-face instruction ses- BrightSpace (D2L) sion for an entire class. www.brightspace.com
Sakai The LMS Embedded https://sakaiproject.org Librarian Opportunity
Librarians have a great opportunity before them All LMSs, regardless of platform, provide a set of to reach out to students and collaborate with fac- common features and capabilities for students, fac- ulty. Embedded librarianship in the LMS builds on ulty, and librarians. The following items can be uti- librarians’ abilities and provision of technology and lized by librarians to reach students and share impor- instructional support to students and faculty. The tant content: expertise that librarians continue to grow in instruc- tional design, open educational resources, copyright, • Content pages can be posted in the course site, and digital learning objects can be brought together whether produced within the LMS content edi- in successful partnerships that positively impact stu- tor interface or created outside as HTML, PDF, dents. The material shared in the coming chapters or other types of files. This allows the embedded will explore resources and finding tools to link to in librarian to post a page listing contact informa- the LMS and ways to use the LMS to communicate tion for the librarian, links to useful resources, with students. In addition, there will be a discussion tutorials, and step-by-step guidance on searching. of how to design the LMS embedded presence and February/March 2016 It also lets the librarian, with permission from the technologies to use to organize and convey informa- instructor, add specific library resources or links tion that students need. to the larger resource page to other course docu- ments, such as assignments, specific lessons or modules, or the syllabus. Notes • E-mailing students who are enrolled in the course 1. Barbara I. Dewey, “The Embedded Librarian: Stra- alatechsource.org is easy with a built-in e-mail interface. It is often tegic Campus Collaborations,” Resource Sharing and difficult for librarians to communicate with stu- Information Networks 17, no. 1–2 (2014): 5–17, http:// dents beyond face-to-face instruction time. The dx.doi.org/10.1300/J121v17n01_02. LMS environment allows the librarian to intro- 2. Alison J. Head, Learning the Ropes: How Freshmen duce herself to students and have opportunities Conduct Course Research Once They Enter College, to remind students of her presence later in the Project Information Literacy Research Report: The Passage Studies (Seattle: University of Washington semester or quarter. Information School, December 5, 2013), http://pro • Discussion boards or forums are often used by jectinfolit.org/images/pdfs/pil_2013_freshmen faculty members to provide students a venue to ask study_fullreport.pdf.
Library Technology ReportsLibrary Technology questions and to hold discussions of class materials 3. Matthew P. Long and Roger C. Schonfeld, Ithaka S+R and topics. Some embedded librarians will set up US Library Survey 2013 (New York: Ithaka, March 11,
8 Learning Management Systems: Tools for Embedded Librarianship John J. Burke and Beth E. Tumbleson 2014), 14–15, http://sr.ithaka.org?p=22787. 10. Bell, “Top 10 Academic Library Issues.” 4. Association of College and Research Libraries, 11. ACRL Research Planning and Review Committee, Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Edu- “Top Trends in Academic Libraries: A Review of the cation, ACRL MW15 Doc 4.1 (Chicago: Association Trends and Issues Affecting Academic Libraries in of College and Research Libraries, January 2015), Higher Education,” College and Research Libraries http://acrl.ala.org/ilstandards/wp-content/uploads/ News 75, no. 6 (June 2014): 296–97, http://crln.acrl 2015/01/Framework-MW15-Board-Docs.pdf. .org/content/75/6/294.full. 5. I. Elaine Allen and Jeff Seaman, Grade Level: Track- 12. Johnson et al., NMC Horizon Report: 2015 Higher ing Online Education in the United States, research Education Edition, 24–25. report (Oakland, CA: Babson Survey Research Group 13. Johnson et al., NMC Horizon Report: 2015 Library and Quahog Research Group, February 2015), 5, Edition, 24–25. www.onlinelearningsurvey.com/reports/ 14. Association of College and Research Libraries, gradelevel.pdf. Framework for Information Literacy. 6. Steven Bell, “Top 10 Academic Library Issues for 15. ACRL Research Planning and Review Committee, 2015,” From the Bell Tower, Library Journal, Febru- “Top Trends in Academic Libraries,” 297–98. ary 18, 2015, http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2015/02/ 16. Bell, “Top 10 Academic Library Issues.” opinion/steven-bell/top-10-academic-library-issues 17. Eden Dahlstrom and Jacqueline Bichsel, ECAR Study -for-2015-from-the-bell-tower. of Undergraduate Students and Information Technolo- 7. Long and Schonfeld, Ithaka S+R US Library Survey, gy, 2014, research report (Louisville, CO: EDUCAUSE 34–35. Center for Analysis and Research, October 2014), 8. Larry Johnson, Samantha Adams Becker, Victoria Es- 10, https://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ss14/ trada, and Alex Freeman, NMC Horizon Report: 2015 ERS1406.pdf. Library Edition (Austin, TX: New Media Consortium, 18. Phil Hill, “State of the US Higher Education LMS 2015), 28, http://cdn.nmc.org/media/2015-nmc Market: 2014 Edition,” e-Literate (blog), October 22, -horizon-report-library-EN.pdf. 2014, http://mfeldstein.com/state-us-higher 9. Larry Johnson, Samantha Adams Becker, Victoria Es- -education-lms-market-2014-edition. trada, and Alex Freeman, NMC Horizon Report: 2015 19. Beth E. Tumbleson and John J. Burke, Embedding Higher Education Edition (Austin, TX: New Media Librarianship in Learning Management Systems (Chi- Consortium, 2015), 14–15, http://cdn.nmc.org/ cago: ALA/Neal-Schuman, 2013), 147. media/2015-nmc-horizon-report-HE-EN.pdf. TechnologyLibrary Reports alatechsource.org February/March 2016 February/March
9 Learning Management Systems: Tools for Embedded Librarianship John J. Burke and Beth E. Tumbleson Chapter 2
Digital Collections
LMS Embedded Librarianship Center or Gale’s Opposing Viewpoints in Context or CQ Researcher. Individual electronic reference titles LMS embedded librarians are engaged in student published by various companies (Gale, Oxford, Salem, learning according to the Ithaka S+R US Library Sur- Springer, Wiley, etc.) or reference collections like vey 2013. They confer with faculty members to dis- Credo can also be linked to for academic background cover what their learning outcomes are and what their research. The librarian proceeds to link to the library research assignments entail. After considering what discovery service for its digital and print collections. students will have to know and do as researchers, the The comprehensive discovery service for articles, librarian identifies which subject databases are most books, and media may be highlighted using tutori- appropriate. Academic libraries will license and some- als that demonstrate its purpose and search interface. times buy hundreds of these subject databases. In Several subject databases may be individually linked addition to this proprietary content, LMS embedded to promote essential digital collections within a field, librarians guide students to open-access content and such as images in Artstor for art; scholarly journal open educational resources freely available online. articles in Criminal Justice Abstracts with Full Text Knowledge of the subject discipline, the library’s for criminal justice; evidence-based practice reviews collections, and the changing publishing landscape in the Cochrane Library for nursing; or company and is needed to list and link to the best digital collec- market data in OneSource for business. Sometimes the tions available for students. Often the LMS embedded LMS embedded librarian will need to steer students February/March 2016 librarian will create or link to available tutorials in to specialized digital collections in statistics—like the an effort to explain visually how to navigate search Statistical Abstract of the United States by ProQuest interfaces and how the various collections overlap or or American FactFinder by the US Census Bureau—or are distinct from one another. With this kind of sup- in law—like LexisNexis for legal cases. port, students are better able to decide which digital Normally the embedded librarian will include collections are most suited to their research needs. screencasts or screenshots that demonstrate how to alatechsource.org The LMS embedded librarian might work in the conduct efficient online searching, explain research following manner. After discussing the details of a terminology such as peer-reviewed, describe a disci- research project with a professor, the librarian begins pline-specific thesaurus such as the National Library to build an LMS embedded librarian page or a course of Medicine’s Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) or LibGuide for registered students. This is a carefully codes used in business research such as the North selected resource list, drawn from all digital collec- American Industry Classification System (NAICS), tions available through the university libraries and or introduce a mnemonic system for evaluating web- online. After linking to general contact information, sites such as the CRAAP Test: Currency, Relevance, the embedded librarian may recommend databases Authority, Accuracy, Purpose. Finally, the embedded
Library Technology ReportsLibrary Technology that suggest topic ideas on controversial issues in librarian will link to guides, generators, and manag- the news, such as EBSCO’s Points of View Reference ers for the required citation style or styles students
10 Learning Management Systems: Tools for Embedded Librarianship John J. Burke and Beth E. Tumbleson will use. By carefully directing students to these aca- scholarship over local physical collection develop- demic tools, explaining research concepts, and link- ment. Users understand and desire the ideal of simul- ing to digital collections, the LMS embedded librarian taneous, unlimited, free access to information, thus is able to help students develop their information lit- ensuring equitable global access; however, it is not yet eracy and encourage them to adopt more productive a reality. research strategies based upon a fuller understanding of the cycle of scholarly communication. Full-Text Articles
Digital Collections Anyone who attends national conferences and has strolled the exhibition hall is familiar with the major Embedded librarians have many choices when it publishers that create and maintain databases of full- comes to directing students to scholarly digital collec- text articles. EBSCOhost, Elsevier, Gale, LexisNexis, tions within their LMS courses. Today, most academic ProQuest, and Thomson Reuters provide electronic libraries license or buy digital collections such as access to current and back files of scholarly journals, databases of full-text articles, dissertations, images, popular magazines, and newspapers. Today’s aca- music, and videos as well as electronic journals and demic libraries are most likely to provide access to books. “Since 1995 our function has been, increas- these full-text databases through subscriptions, licens- ingly, to secure for our patrons the collective right to ing, or consortia-shared licensing. Publishers may opt access and use digital documents that are housed and to sell access to articles through full-text databases, cared for elsewhere.”1 Academic libraries are transi- through subscriptions to their journal titles, or even tioning from local print collections to remotely acces- through access to individual articles. Pricing varies, sible, online collections, in part to reduce storage costs depending on terms such as site license, building or for print, which can be housed in high-density storage location license, full-time equivalent (FTE) ranges, off site or replaced entirely by digital collections. User consortial multipliers from one to unlimited, simul- space for creation and collaboration has become a taneous access, the number of units the institution greater priority than collection storage in the physical already pays to that publisher, and timing due to spe- library in higher education. This trend in collection cial deals at the end of the quarter or the year. Clearly, development has been well documented by leaders in pricing models are somewhat mysterious and require library and information science in various reports and experienced negotiators’ advocacy and action as ven- studies (NMC Horizon Report: 2015 Library Edition, dors rethink their cash-flow models and reorganize and David Lewis’s 2013 College and Research Librar- their operations and adjust their pricing accordingly. ies article). Among librarians and scholars, this move Not only are current journals available electroni- towards greater reliance on digital collections and cally, so too are historical journals and newspapers. TechnologyLibrary Reports renovated, repurposed library space has been neither Readex, a division of NewsBank Inc., offers three cen- tranquil nor uncontested. Indeed, city-wide debates turies under the label “America’s Historical Newspa- and litigation regarding the New York Public Library pers,” including “America’s Early Newspapers Series illustrates the discord such facilities decisions may 1–7, 1690–1922” (www.readex.com). JSTOR provides unleash.2 access to archival collections I–XI of scholarly jour- Today’s readers value instant access to content on nals in all disciplines (www.jstor.org). their mobile devices. According to a 2014 report by Other traditional approaches to access are used the EDUCAUSE Center for Analysis Research, 60 per- as well. Document delivery services are made avail-
cent of students access library resources via mobile able by academic libraries to their users as an eco- alatechsource.org devices.3 While some view digital content online, oth- nomical solution for providing quick access to a par- ers choose to download it and read it offline later. ticular article. While an annual serial subscription Views and downloads have become the new metrics may strain a library budget, paying for one spe- library administrators study. Students and research- cific article retains the user’s goodwill and remains ers in higher education increasingly expect online, affordable for libraries. Libraries also provide inter-
full-text access to documents. Digital content is avail- library loan services to supply needed full-text arti- 2016 February/March able for all learning styles. These digital documents cles at no cost to the user, while the library absorbs have the advantage of immediate access from any- the expenses of staff time and associated fees. Some- where and can be marked up and shared with col- times users will find the desired article in an institu- leagues. According to the NMC Horizon Report, users tional repository or scholarly commons in the form prefer web-scale discovery of items, linked to library of a preprint, postprint, or publisher’s version or PDF. holdings of their institution.4 In short, scholarship has Some institutions require faculty and staff to upload gone digital and is headed towards open access. This their articles to make them freely available, while priority expands the possibility of access to global others leave it to the personal choice of the faculty
11 Learning Management Systems: Tools for Embedded Librarianship John J. Burke and Beth E. Tumbleson Full-Text Solutions operating system. Determine whether it will be neces- sary to buy or borrow dedicated hardware such as a • document delivery services Barnes and Noble Nook or Amazon Kindle. Find out if it is necessary to download special software such as • institutional repositories Adobe Digital Editions or if the e-reader is browser- • interlibrary loan services based, as is true of the new EBSCO online e-book • statewide or regional library consortia viewer. EBSCO (https://www.ebscohost.com/ebooks) offers a collection of more than 15,000 e-books. Is the e-book device-neutral? Can library users avoid becom- ing enmeshed in confusing digital rights management or staff member. It is apparent that access to full- (DRM) difficulties? text articles can be no cost, low cost, or quite costly, There are many e-book database collections, depending on the suppliers’ terms. Rarely is there a which can be broad in scope or quite focused: Digi- one-price-fits-all model. talia Hispanica (Latin American and Spanish litera- ture, https://www.amigos.org/node/2665), R2 Dig- ital Library (nursing, www.r2library.com), National E-books Academies Press (STEM titles, www.nap.edu), Proj- ect MUSE (books and journals in the humanities More e-books are becoming available through librar- and social sciences, https://muse.jhu.edu), Safari ies as publishers explore various business models. Online (technology, https://www.safaribooks Libraries are able to acquire e-book collections from online.com), Salem Press (reference titles, www publishers and aggregators that build discipline-spe- .salempress.com), Wiley Online Library (multi- cific collections, such as nursing, and thematic col- disciplinary books and journals), and Stalin Digi- lections, such as reference. In addition to buying or tal Archive (digital primary sources). This list indi- licensing e-book collections, it is also possible to order cates the range of disciplines and genres covered individual titles from publishers, even from major in e-books. In addition, individual in-print e-book publishers like Oxford University Press, which had titles can be selected from Amazon or the academic resisted allowing this option, through the academic book jobber Yankee Book Peddler, recently acquired book jobber, Yankee Book Peddler (YBP). Publishers by EBSCO. Not only newly published titles, but also are moving toward releasing more e-books simultane- historical books are being distributed as e-books. ously with their print editions. Frontlist e-book titles Three centuries of individual historical texts can be are becoming more readily available for libraries to accessed via Readex’s America’s Historical Imprints order. Publishers that preferred to sell e-book versions (www.readex.com/content/americas-historical- of only backlisted, older titles are now willing to sell imprints): Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans, to libraries both electronic and print editions of newly 1639–1800, ProQuest’s Early English Books Online released monographs. (www.proquest.com/products-services/databases/ Library pricing models for e-books are still under eebo.html), and Gale Cengage Learning’s Eighteenth debate, however. Readers will recall the arbitrary limit Century Collections Online (http://gale.cengage of twenty-six loans per year implemented by Harper- .co.uk/product-highlights/history/eighteenth-century Collins. Librarians recognize that library prices are -collections-online.aspx). SAGE Knowledge (https:// February/March 2016 much higher than what the individual reader may pay us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/knowledge) has been for the same e-book. Another consideration is multi- publishing its Historic Documents series of primary plier costs for a given number of simultaneous users sources since 1972. within an institution or a consortium. Prices must be thoughtfully negotiated. A workable solution for elec- tronic book interlibrary loans among libraries has Dissertations and Theses alatechsource.org yet to be achieved, although interlibrary loan e-book pilots have been run, like the Occam’s Reader Project ProQuest/UMI indexes doctoral dissertations and (http://occamsreader.org). master’s theses from more than seven hundred univer- Another complicating aspect of electronic books sities. Its extensive archive is worldwide, beginning concerns the e-book readers, or e-readers, necessary in 1743; the first American dissertation dates from to read digital content. There are various open and 1861. Each year ProQuest archives more than ninety proprietary e-book formats in use, such as PDF and thousand new graduate works, which it then dissemi- EPUB, which present format compatibility issues to be nates. Libraries subscribe to ProQuest’s Dissertation considered with commercial e-readers. Apps can be and Theses bibliographic database of abstracts so that
Library Technology ReportsLibrary Technology used to read an e-book online or offline, on a desk- students, authors, researchers, and publishing insti- top, laptop, tablet, or smartphone. Check the device’s tutions may search for, identify, and access graduate
12 Learning Management Systems: Tools for Embedded Librarianship John J. Burke and Beth E. Tumbleson works of interest. The dissertations and theses may Images be purchased or downloaded for a fee, but it is often possible to borrow them through interlibrary loan ser- Images, maps, and photographs accent the visual and vices for free (www.proquest.com/products-services/ clarify textual descriptions and explanations. Profes- dissertations). sors and presenters may include images in class lec- tures, syllabi, and research findings to inspire the imagination, add humor, or clarify concepts. Images Videos can be found both through commercial producers like Artstor (art and architecture images), Images of the Many students satisfy their personal preference for American Civil War by Alexander Street Press, JSTOR visual learning by watching digital videos. In addi- Global Plants, or iStock by Getty Images. tion, faculty assign digital videos or clips as part of regular classroom instruction. Sometimes students view a video together in class, and sometimes indi- Free Image Suppliers vidually outside class as homework. Digital videos or clips can be linked or embedded in learning man- American Memory (Library of Congress) agement courses and streamed. Some commercial http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html vendors allow subscribers to search across multiple video collections simultaneously, for example, Alex- Digital Public Library of America ander Street Press, which offers this functionality in http://dp.la its Academic Video Online platform. Other commer- cial vendors, such as Kanopy, Kaltura, and Films on Flickr Demand (by Films Media Group), offer streaming of https://www.flickr.com clips and complete videos. Still other vendors, such as Lynda.com and Atomic Learning, offer video train- Google Images ing in technology and software applications as well as https://images.google.com academic concepts. Commercial news databases, like AP Archive and NBC Learn, offer archives of news vid- Wikipedia Commons eos from the 1920s to the present. Scholastic BookFlix https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page includes PreK–3 storybook and nonfiction videos to strengthen a love of reading and literacy. In addition, free digital videos may be located at YouTube, TED Talks, and Kahn Academy, where users may learn and Audio review core subjects. TechnologyLibrary Reports Podcasts and music contribute to the learning experi- ence. Some collections are free, such as the Library of Free Video Search Tools Congress’s American Memory, which includes oral his- tories and sound recordings. Other free sources include Blinkx SoundCloud (https://soundcloud.com), the world’s lead- www.blinkx.com ing social sound platform using apps that allow users to upload, record, promote, and share original audio ClipBlast! creations; Jamendo Music (https://www.jamendo www.clipblast.com
.com/?language=en), a free service for digital music alatechsource.org that also offers a music licensing platform; ccMixter Creative Commons Search (http://ccmixter.org), which allows downloads, listen- https://search.creativecommons.org ing, and remixes, with its community making mashups, remixes, and a cappella tracks under Creative Com- Google Videos mons licenses. In addition, National Jukebox (www https://www.google.com/videohp .loc.gov/jukebox/) provides historical recordings from 2016 February/March the Library of Congress. Podcasts from radio broad- OVGuide casts are included in proprietary databases like Gale’s https://www.ovguide.com Opposing Viewpoints in Context (http://solutions .cengage.com/InContext/Opposing-Viewpoints/). Pro- Tenplay prietary music databases like American Song (http:// http://tenplay.com.au alexanderstreet.com/products/american-song), Naxos Music Library (https://www.naxosmusiclibrary.com/ home.asp?rurl=%2Fdefault%2Easp), and Smithsonian
13 Learning Management Systems: Tools for Embedded Librarianship John J. Burke and Beth E. Tumbleson Digital Content Providers Database Vendors SAGE Publications https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/home EBSCOhost https://www.ebscohost.com Salem Press www.salempress.com Gale www.cengage.com/us Springer www.springer.com/us LexisNexis www.lexisnexis.com/en-us/gateway.page Wiley www.wiley.com/WileyCDA ProQuest www.proquest.com Open-Access E-books Thomson Reuters http://thomsonreuters.com/en.html Directory of Open Access Books https://doabooks.org Electronic Journals Google Books https://books.google.com Elsevier www.elsevier.com Project Gutenberg https://archive.org/details/gutenberg SAGE Publications https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/home HathiTrust Digital Library https://www.hathitrust.org Springer www.springer.com/us E-book Comparisons Wiley www.wiley.com/WileyCDA Comparison of e-book formats https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_ Directory of Open Access Journals e-book_formats https://doaj.org Comparison of e-book readers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_ E-books e-book_readers ABC-CLIO www.abc-clio.com Dissertations Cambridge University Press Dissertations and Theses Dissemination and Ordering www.cambridge.org (ProQuest) ebrary www.proquest.com/products-services/dissertations www.ebrary.com/corp Open Access Dissertations and Theses February/March 2016 EBSCOhost https://oatd.org https://www.ebscohost.com PQDT Open Gale Virtual Reference Library http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/search.html www.cengage.com/search/showresults.do ?N=197+4294904997 Commercial Videos alatechsource.org JSTOR Alexander Street www.jstor.org http://alexanderstreet.com Oxford Scholarship Online JoVE (Journal of Visualized Experiments) www.oxfordscholarship.com www.jove.com Project MUSE Kanopy https://muse.jhu.edu https://www.kanopystreaming.com Safari Books Online www.proquest.com/products-services/safari_ Library Technology ReportsLibrary Technology tech_books.html
14 Learning Management Systems: Tools for Embedded Librarianship John J. Burke and Beth E. Tumbleson Free Videos Open Access Resources Kahn Academy arXiv https://www.khanacademy.org http://arxiv.org TED Talks PLOS (Public Library of Science) https://www.ted.com https://www.plos.org YouTube Open Knowledge Repository (World Bank) https://www.youtube.com https://openknowledge.worldbank.org
Commercial Images Commercial Learning Resources AP Images www.apimages.com Atomic Learning https://www.atomiclearning.com Artstor www.artstor.org LearningExpress Library www.learningexpresshub.com/productengine/LEL Free Images Index.html#/learningexpresslibrary/libraryhome Flickr Lynda https://www.flickr.com www.lynda.com Google Images Commercial Data https://images.google.com SimplyMap Commercial Audio Resources https://www.simplymap.com/login.html American Song ProQuest Statistical Abstract of the United States http://alexanderstreet.com/products/american-song www.proquest.com/products-services/statabstract .html Naxos Music Library https://www.naxosmusiclibrary.com/home.asp?rurl Wharton Research Data Services (WRDS) =%2Fdefault%2Easp www.whartonwrds.com Jazz Music Library Free Data
http://alexanderstreet.com/products/jazz-music-library TechnologyLibrary Reports American FactFinder Smithsonian Global Sound for Libraries http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/index http://alexanderstreet.com/products/smithsonian .xhtml -global-sound%C2%AE-libraries Data.gov Free Audio Resources www.data.gov Audio Recordings (Library of Congress) Open Educational Resources (OERs) www.loc.gov/audio/collections John Burke, Textbook Alternatives & OER, Miami National Jukebox (Library of Congress) alatechsource.org University Libraries www.loc.gov/jukebox http://libguides.lib.miamioh.edu/textbookalternatives National Public Radio (under programs & podcasts) www.npr.org February/March 2016 February/March Global Sound (http://alexanderstreet.com/products/ Data Sets smithsonian-global-sound%C2%AE-libraries) intro- duce listeners to their musical heritage and history. Digital content is available in proprietary databases— It is also possible to learn seventy foreign languages, for example, Key Business Ratios, Historical Statistics including ancient languages, by taking advantage of of the United States, Statistical Abstracts of the United the audio and video files in Mango Languages (https:// States, and SimplyMap—as well as in free collections www.mangolanguages.com). like American FactFinder, Business and Industry Statis- tics by the US Census Bureau, Census Reporter, Centers
15 Learning Management Systems: Tools for Embedded Librarianship John J. Burke and Beth E. Tumbleson for Disease Control and Prevention, Data.gov, National the public domain and is freely accessible for use and Center for Education Statistics, Organization for Co- repurposing. These resources may include open text- operation and Development (OECD), UNdata, World books and openly licensed videos, software, learning Bank’s Data and Research, International Monetary objects, courses, and tests. Fund Data, and NationMaster for country comparisons. Please note: The commercial and free suppliers listed in the gray boxes serve as an indicative listing rather than a comprehensive list. Open Access
The open-access movement began in the late 1990s Notes and promotes unrestricted access to scholarly research 1. Rick Anderson, “A Quiet Culture War in Research online. Open-access may be gratis (free of charge), or Libraries—and What It Means for Librarians, Re- it may be libre, which means free of charge with some searchers and Publishers,” Insights 28, no. 2 (July additional usage restrictions, as with Creative Com- 2015): 22, Library, Information Science & Technol- mons licenses. Authors may self-archive their articles ogy Abstracts with Full Text, EBSCOhost, http:// in a repository, which is referred to as green open dx.doi.org/10.1629/uksg.230. access, or publish in an open-access journal, which is 2. Scott Sherman, “The New York Public Library Wars: known as gold open access. What Went Wrong at One of the World’s Eminent Research Institutions?” Chronicle of Higher Education ArXiv.org is an open-access repository of more than 61, no. 40 (June 24, 2015): B9–B11, Academic Search a half million scholarly electronic articles in the sci- Complete, EBSCOhost, http://chronicle.com/article/ ences maintained by Cornell University Library. Cor- The-New-York-Public-Library/231127. nell University Vision and Image Analysis Group pro- 3. Eden Dahlstrom and Jacqueline Bichsel, ECAR Study vides publically accessible and available medical image of Undergraduate Students and Information Technolo- databases. Finding tools for open-access collections gy, 2014, research report (Louisville, CO: EDUCAUSE include the Directory of Open Access Books (www.doa- Center for Analysis and Research, October 2014), books.org), maintained by the OAPEN Foundation at 21–22, https://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ss14/ the National Library in the Hague, and the Directory ERS1406.pdf. 4. Larry Johnson, Samantha Becker, Victoria Estrada, of Open Access Journals (https://doaj.org), founded at and Alex Freeman, NMC Horizon Report: 2014 Higher Lund University, Sweden, which includes 10,000 open- Education Edition (Austin, TX: New Media Consor- access scholarly journals in all disciplines. tium, 2014), 14, www.editlib.org/p/130341.
Open Educational Resources
The term open educational resources refers to content for learning, teaching, and research that remains in February/March 2016 alatechsource.org Library Technology ReportsLibrary Technology
16 Learning Management Systems: Tools for Embedded Librarianship John J. Burke and Beth E. Tumbleson Chapter 3
Search Systems and Finding Tools
LMS Embedded Librarianship institutional repository items, and open-access con- tent from its discovery service for articles. So if a Academic libraries rely on diverse search systems student is searching for articles on a given topic, it and finding tools. Web-scale discovery platforms have makes sense to start with the library’s discovery ser- become the preferred search and have replaced fed- vice for articles, which would incorporate many data- erated searching, which was seen as slow and “too bases. If a student wants a medical e-book, then using cumbersome to serve our students well.”1 Users value the library’s discovery service for books is the logical an intuitive, simple, and comprehensive search expe- beginning. At other times, the researcher may prefer rience. Accordingly, librarians today are reviewing the sophisticated search interface of a single database and licensing the next-generation catalog and other and start with databases A–Z to locate that database. discovery tools, often referred to as a discovery layer, A student who wants information from online news discovery service, or discovery user interface. If col- or an individual’s website will start with a search lege and university libraries decide to utilize a truly engine. A researcher who needs carefully selected, TechnologyLibrary Reports comprehensive discovery service, then their other discipline-specific websites may start searching from traditional tools become less important for search- a portal such as the Virtual Religion Index. In short, ing. Often the work of LMS embedded librarianship need drives the selection of which finding tool is most includes introducing users to the new discovery ser- appropriate because the tools differ and do not dis- vice and clarifying what material types and formats cover the same sources. As much as students may like are being searched in order that users do not overlook the convenience and ease of starting with Google, that significant resources. Wrong assumptions and incom- search engine does not do it all. plete findings can result if these details are unclear.
The LMS embedded librarian minimizes research- alatechsource.org ers’ frustration, confusion, and time when she Index-Based Discovery Services explains where to start searching and why, as well as what each finding tool is intended to discover. Many Next-generation catalogs are turning to discovery. The administrative decisions about the operation of a dis- most significant criterion for a discovery service is its covery system are made locally, and these decisions ability to retrieve all library resources in one search,
affect how different types of materials are discovered including books, e-books, articles from databases, vid- 2016 February/March by searchers, so it becomes imperative for the LMS eos, and items in digital repositories. Often this mech- embedded librarian to offer a recommended order of anism relies on a unified index or real-time searching. search with rationale. For example, some academic So the first question to ask is, what is the size of the libraries may set up their discovery service to iden- discovery service’s unified index and the extent of cov- tify books, articles, institutional repository items, erage of the library’s holdings? Admittedly, no discov- and open-access content in one search. Administra- ery service, or search engine for that matter, delivers tors of another library’s discovery service may sepa- 100 percent of all resources, so comprehensive find- rate the next-generation catalog for books, e-books, ing tools are not a reality yet. The second question to
17 Learning Management Systems: Tools for Embedded Librarianship John J. Burke and Beth E. Tumbleson Leading Discovery Services Proprietary Discovery Services EBSCO Discovery Service (EBSCO) EBSCO Discovery Service (EBSCO) www.ebscohost.com/discovery https://www.ebscohost.com/discovery Encore Discovery Solution (Innovative Interfaces) Encore Discovery Solution (Innovative Interfaces) www.iii.com/products/sierra/encore https://www.iii.com/products/sierra/encore Primo (Ex Libris) Primo (Ex Libris) www.exlibrisgroup.com/category/PrimoOverview www.exlibrisgroup.com/category/PrimoOverview Summon (ProQuest) Summon (ProQuest) www.proquest.com/libraries/academic/discovery www.proquest.com/libraries/academic/discovery -services/ -services Worldcat Local (OCLC) WorldCat Local (OCLC) www.oclc.org/worldcat-local.en.html www.oclc.org/worldcat-local.en.html AquaBrowser (ProQuest) www.proquest.com/products-services/AquaBrowser pose is, what is the quality of the unified index? How .html well does it retrieve items from the local institutional repository as well as e-books or patents from the open Axiell Arena (Axiell) web?2 Faceted navigation is expected by searchers as a www.axiell.co.uk/solutions/interface limiting feature. Relevancy ranking is standard; how- BiblioCore (BiblioCommons) ever, Primo alone offers popularity ranking based on www.bibliocommons.com/products/bibliocore views or usage. Primo alone suggests similar articles. Endeca (Oracle) RSS feeds are a nice feature for researchers wishing to www.oracle.com/us/solutions/business-analytics/ be alerted to new materials that match their interests. business-intelligence/endeca/overview/index.html It is possible to share resources through social net- working sites integrated in the discovery service; the Enterprise (SirsiDynix) majority of products make this possible. A minority www.sirsidynix.com/products/enterprise of discovery tools offer a persistent link; both EBSCO Visualizer (VTLS) Discovery Service and WorldCat Local do. The major- http://vtls.wikispaces.com ity of discovery tools supply a separate mobile inter- face. FRBR enables searchers to find various editions and formats of a work, but this is not a standard fea- Open-Source Discovery ture of most discovery services. Primo and WorldCat Blacklight Local do offer this desired option. For further details http://projectblacklight.org see the excellent review article by Chickering and Yang, which rates Primo and WorldCat Local as the eXtensible Catalog highest scoring discovery tools.3 Clearly the four ven- www.extensiblecatalog.org dors of index-based discovery services are competing. VuFind February/March 2016 Currently, EBSCO “holds the dominant market share, http://vufind-org.github.io/vufind challenged by Ex Libris Primo, OCLE WorldCat Dis- covery Service, and ProQuest Summon.”4 In October 2015, ProQuest announced it will acquire Ex Libris systems.”5 They enable users to search the library’s Group. collections and beyond, note relevancy-ranked items, and get instant access to full text, thus saving the alatechsource.org searcher’s time. The essential appeal of web-scale Discovery Service discovery is the ease of identifying library materials from publishers, aggregators, and repositories regard- Discovery search systems are replacing federated less of format or location. They are fast and com- searching. Discovery systems improve user experience prehensive and offer a single search box, familiar to by giving searchers a single starting point to identify searchers who use Google, the standout among search all items in the library’s holdings. Simple, intuitive, fast engines. Libraries wishing to promote their numerous searching of everything at once is expected by today’s electronic resources are licensing a discovery service users. “The need to improve user experience was the so the campus community may conveniently search
Library Technology ReportsLibrary Technology trigger for the development and deployment of discov- nearly all holdings simultaneously. Library adminis- ery systems and has become the cornerstone of these trators at last have a means of collecting anonymous
18 Learning Management Systems: Tools for Embedded Librarianship John J. Burke and Beth E. Tumbleson Sixteen Evaluation Criteria for The main problem here is that students, Next-Generation Catalogs lacking deep content knowledge, are unlikely Does the discovery service offer: to choose well even if they know the best
• One-stop search? criteria to use and are well motivated. • A modern web interface? Sadly, for the majority of students, neither • Enriched content? knowledge of criteria nor motivation to • Faceted navigation? spend time evaluating is a prominent factor • A simple keyword search box with a link to in their research. advanced search on start page? Source: William B. Badke, “Expertise and Authority in an Age of • A simple keyword search box on every page? Crowdsourcing,” in Not Just Where to Click: Teaching Students • Relevancy ranking of results? How to Think About Information, Publications in Librarianship no. 68, edited by Troy A. Swanson and Heather Jagman, • Spelling suggestions? (Chicago: American Library Association, 2015), 205. • Recommend other similar titles? • An opportunity for user contributions? regularly working with an overabundance of search • RSS feeds? results and potential resources.”6 When searchers • Integration of social networking sites? are confronted with too many results, they solve this problem via relevancy rankings. Relevancy ranking is • Persistent links? problematic, says Asher, who reports undergraduates • Auto-completion/stemming? place too much trust in discovery systems’ proprietary • Support for mobile devices? algorithms while failing to evaluate sources for them- • Functional Requirements for Bibliographic selves. Students’ choice of source type is impacted by Retrieval (FRBR)? the search tool they use. The Discovery Tools Project revealed that the biases of the search tools (Google Source: F. William Chickering and Sharon Q. Yang, “Evaluation Scholar, Summon, EDS, Library Catalog/Databases, and Comparison of Discovery Tools: An Update,” Informa- No Tool) influenced the source types students chose— tion Technology and Libraries 33, no. 2 (2014): 12–13, Pro- academic journal articles, books, newspapers/maga- fessional Development Collection, EBSCOhost, http://dx.doi zines/trade journals, for-pay articles, websites, gov- .org/10.6017/ital.v33i2.3471. ernment documents, and other documents.7
Because students are hard-pressed to evaluate TechnologyLibrary Reports scholarly sources without “deep content knowledge,” usage data for assessment. With advances in technol- they rely on the convenience of relevancy rank- ogy, scholars now have access to discovery systems ings.8 Typically, students review only the first page with their increasingly personalized options that of results. Nor do students spend sufficient time and facilitate research. Undergraduate searchers who lack thought working with sources, which presents further expertise have one starting discovery tool that allows problems. According to the Citation Project, three them to apply facets to the many results returned to quarters of all student citations involve the first three reduce irrelevant hits. Facets may include availabil- pages of a source, whatever its length.9 Obviously, reli-
ity, format, publication year, journal name, database, ance on the introductory source pages skews students’ alatechsource.org language, and so on. Although academic libraries are research understanding of academic issues. Instruc- making sizeable investments in updating their search tion in digital literacy as discussed in chapter 1, as tools, not all librarians enthusiastically support the well as information literacy, are crucial for student transition to discovery services. Some librarians have researchers. Both should be added to the course cur- reservations concerning relevancy rankings, evalua- riculum and set as learning outcomes by collaborating
tion, and authority for reasons that follow. faculty and librarians. 2016 February/March Academic research continues to challenge stu- dents. First, there is the problem of too much infor- mation. Although discovery search systems offer lim- Databases iting features, students tend not to use them. Students turn to trial-and-error keyword searching. According Databases represent traditional search systems that to Asher, “By relying so heavily on simple keyword involve similar records and often relate to one sub- searches while simultaneously failing to use features ject or discipline. They excel at providing a sophisti- to narrow down or refine search results, students were cated search interface that allows users to define their
19 Learning Management Systems: Tools for Embedded Librarianship John J. Burke and Beth E. Tumbleson Top Five Discovery Systems by Database Vendors One-Stop Searching ABC-CLIO Listed Chronologically www.abc-clio.com Alexander Street • OCLC, WorldCat Local, 2007– http://alexanderstreet.com • ProQuest, Summon, 2009– Cambridge University Press • EBSCO, EBSCO Discovery Service, 2010– www.cambridge.org • Innovative Interfaces Inc., Encore Discovery EBSCOhost Solution, 2010– https://www.ebscohost.com • Ex Libris, Primo, 2010– Elsevier www.elsevier.com Source: F. William Chickering and Sharon Q. Yang, “Evaluation and Comparison of Discovery Tools: An Update,” Informa- Engineering Village tion Technology and Libraries 33, no. 2 (2014): 27, Profes- www.engineeringvillage.com sional Development Collection, EBSCOhost, http://dx.doi .org/10.6017/ital.v33i2.3471. Gale Cengage www.cengage.com LexisNexis A discovery service may include: www.lexisnexis.com/en-us/gateway.page • library catalog records Oxford University Press • indexes and databases http://global.oup.com/?cc=us • open-access content ProQuest • institutional repository records www.proquest.com • local digital collections Salem Press • library research guides www.salempress.com • library web pages Thomson Reuters http://thomsonreuters.com/en.html Wiley information need accurately. A thesaurus of medical www.wiley.com/WileyCDA subject headings by the National Library of Medicine, used in PubMed, MEDLINE, or CINAHL, or an industry code for products such as the North American Industry Search Engines Classification System, used in business databases, rep- resent just two advanced features database searchers Millions of searchers rely on free search engines daily. may employ. Databases are Boolean-based and enable Students turn to the market leader Google when con- advanced searchers who have thoughtfully defined ducting course-related research, according to studies February/March 2016 their information need to locate matching items on a like Project Information Literacy.10 Professionals and specific topic. This makes databases ideal for serious faculty also rely on search engines and online tools. searchers. Databases may collect articles from journals, “Search results, news feeds, alerts and email are the magazines, or trade publications; images and videos; way most readers see new content now. In fact, many government documents; dissertations; or books. researchers rarely ‘read’ entire journals anymore; even Having acknowledged the strengths of traditional the concept of ‘read a journal’ tends to mean ‘read the alatechsource.org databases, whether they are index and abstract or full- email TOC’!” says John Sack of HighWire Press.11 Some text, librarians are reexamining whether they ought researchers think library discovery channels are lim- to and can still afford to offer databases, especially ited. “It is no longer enough to make sure that content when users are satisfied with “good enough.” Library is discoverable through academic channels (such as budgets are limited, and many libraries cannot afford abstracting and indexing services or library platforms); to duplicate content, nor do they have to, now that we also need to consider the implications of discovery web-scale discovery is available. Library administra- through traditional and social media platforms,” says tors are economizing where possible and cancelling Charlie Rapple of Kuduos.12 Publishers are supplying database subscriptions where they duplicate content article metadata to vendors of index and abstract data-
Library Technology ReportsLibrary Technology or where usage is low. Discovery systems are disrupt- bases, as well as search engine vendors, to index article ing the status quo in scholarly finding tools. information at publishers’ websites. Publishers are also
20 Learning Management Systems: Tools for Embedded Librarianship John J. Burke and Beth E. Tumbleson Most Popular Search Engines, Portals August 2015 Digital Public Library of America Alhea http://dp.la http://us.alhea.com Google Scholar AOL https://scholar.google.com http://search.aol.com/aol/webhome Library of Congress Ask https://www.loc.gov www.ask.com Multnomah County Library Homework Center Bing https://multcolib.org/homework-center https://www.bing.com Public Library of Science Contenko https://www.plos.org www.contenko.com Social Work Portal Dogpile www.socialworkers.org/swportal www.dogpile.com USA.gov DuckDuckGo https://www.usa.gov https://duckduckgo.com Virtual Religion Index Google http://virtualreligion.net/vri/index.html https://www.google.com
Info are considering how and where to spend their limited www.info.com budgets. It is no longer possible to assume that stu- InfoSpace dents and faculty will necessarily choose an academic http://infospace.com library’s expensive and varied finding tools. MyWebSearch http://home.mywebsearch.com/index.jhtml Portals WebCrawler https://www.webcrawler.com Portals are gateways to related websites on the Internet and are built by people with subject expertise apply- WolframAlpha ing selection standards. Beginning a search at a portal, TechnologyLibrary Reports www.wolframalpha.com rather than a search engine that automatically applies Wow algorithms, leads the researcher to quality information www.wow.com faster. If a student needs US federal government infor- Yahoo mation, then going to USA.gov makes sense because https://www.yahoo.com this is the official portal for US agencies and depart- ments. If a student wants librarian-vetted websites for Source: eBizMBA, “The 15 Most Popular Search Engines | Au- homework assignments, he could start at the Mult- gust 2015,” www.ebizmba.com/articles/search-engines. nomah Public Library Homework Center. If a scholar
wants notable websites, then Google Scholar, which alatechsource.org links to the library holdings of her university library, working with Google Scholar and send Google Scholar is a fine choice. There are many discipline-specific por- information so its search engine locates article PDF tals, such as the Virtual Religion Network for religion links for subscribers and open-access materials.13 websites, the Social Work Portal, or the Public Library Independent searchers turn to search engines of Science for open-access articles in science.
for quick, convenient access to information. They 2016 February/March value the Semantic Web and linked data to an insti- Notes tution’s library holdings. “Companies such as Google and Microsoft offer comprehensive search services to 1. F. William Chickering and Sharon Q. Yang, “Evalua- users free with advertisements and sponsored links, tion and Comparison of Discovery Tools: An Update,” the only reminder that these are commercial enter- Information Technology and Libraries 33, no. 2: 5, prises.”14 Open search systems provide a free alter- Professional Development Collection, EBSCOhost, native to commercial search products that searchers http://ejournals.bc.edu/ojs/index.php/ital/article/ view/3471/pdf_1. find attractive. Cost-minded library administrators 2. Jeff Wisniewski, “Beyond the Single Search Box:
21 Learning Management Systems: Tools for Embedded Librarianship John J. Burke and Beth E. Tumbleson Discovery Systems,” Control-Shift, Online Searcher 7. I bid., 147. 38, no. 2 (March/April 2014): 75, CINAHL Plus with 8. William B. Badke, “Expertise and Authority in an Full Text, EBSCOhost. Age of Crowdsourcing,” in Not Just Where to Click: 3. Chickering and Yang, “Evaluation and Comparison of Teaching Students How to Think About Information, Discovery Tools,” 28. Publications in Librarianship no. 68, edited by Troy 4. Marshall Breeding, The Future of Library Resource A. Swanson and Heather Jagman (Chicago: Ameri- Discovery: A White Paper Commissioned by the NISO can Library Association, 2015), 205. Discovery to Delivery D2D Topic Commission (Balti- 9. Ibid., 199. more, MD: National Information Standards Orga- 10. University of Washington, Information School, Proj- nization, February 2015), 15, www.niso.org/apps/ ect Information Literacy, http://projectinfolit.org. group_public/download.php/14487/future_library_ 11. John Sack, quoted in “Scholarly Searching,” Research resource_discovery.pdf. Information no. 78 (June/July 2015): 30, Risk Man- 5. Tamar Sadeh, “From Search to Discovery,” Bibliothek agement Reference Center, EBSCOhost. Forschung Und Praxis 39, no. 2 (June 2015): 214, Li- 12. Charlie Rapple, quoted in ibid. brary, Information Science & Technology Abstracts 13. Laird Barrett, quoted in ibid., 31. with Full Text, EBSCOhost, http://dx.doi.org/10 14. Adrian O’Riordan, 2014, “Open Search Environ- .1515/bfp-2015-0028. ments: The Free Alternative to Commercial Search 6. Andrew D. Asher, “Search Epistemology: Teaching Services,” Information Technology and Libraries 33, Students about Information Discovery,” in Not Just no. 2 (2014): 45, Professional Development Collec- Where to Click: Teaching Students How to Think About tion, EBSCOhost, http://dx.doi.org/10.6017/ital Information, Publications in Librarianship no. 68, ed- .v33i2.4520. ited by Troy A. Swanson and Heather Jagman (Chi- cago: American Library Association, 2015), 144. February/March 2016 alatechsource.org Library Technology ReportsLibrary Technology
22 Learning Management Systems: Tools for Embedded Librarianship John J. Burke and Beth E. Tumbleson Chapter 4
Choosing Content-Creation Products
The LMS Embedded Librarian decide which sources are the best to use in a partic- as a Content Creator ular case or to try their hands at evaluating sources. Whether it covers a broad search strategy for assign- Once librarians enter the learning management sys- ment-focused information, lists key databases, or shares tem (LMS) and become involved in individual courses, the essential details of navigating a finding tool, creat- they are able to create and embed learning materials ing custom content for a course is key for librarians in that students can use. The prior chapters examined sharing library resources in the LMS. the content that libraries provide (articles, e-books, data, etc.) and the finding tools that researchers use; this chapter will cover products and methods for com- Course and Subject Guides municating the value of these items and identifying how to use them to their fullest. This is where the The LMS lends itself to easily posting documents embedded librarian can use the platform of the LMS of several kinds. A librarian could compose a list of TechnologyLibrary Reports and her presence in the course to easily share chosen database URLs and other helpful text in word pro- resources and to directly teach students. The expecta- cessing software, save it as a PDF file, and post it in tion that students will turn to the LMS to learn about the course site. It is just as easy to compose a docu- their assignments and look for guidance in completing ment in the LMS’s content editor (or HTML editor if them creates a teachable moment for librarians. you are comfortable working with HTML) and offer Librarians can create many types of instructional that page to students in the course. Pretty much any objects and collections of resources to include in a method you have for creating a list of resources for course site. Course guides or subject guides can be uti- students to read over and click on will work in your
lized to list links of fitting resources for a course. These LMS. But many librarians are using products outside alatechsource.org guides can be created for a specific embedded course, of the LMS to accomplish this purpose. One reason is or a librarian can utilize guides that were linked on that course or subject guides are useful ways to com- the library website for students conducting research municate relevant resources not just to students in in a topic area. Online presentations can be created a specific LMS course, but also to students who are to help students work through the process of planning taking similar courses or studying a related subject.
their research or learn the important elements of cit- Librarians can create a guide that will work in mul- 2016 February/March ing sources or using a particular database. Screencasts tiple venues and can save time by building the guide often take a similar approach to that of a linear presen- only once. The guides can have a common style that tation, perhaps even including some slides or images makes them more recognizable as being associated created for a presentation and adding video of search- with the library or parent institution, and a common ing for articles or moving around on a website to make format also makes it easier for students to learn how the guidance easier to understand in context. Interac- to navigate the guide. The guide can be linked on the tive tutorials or games can be created to teach infor- library’s website, embedded in the LMS for one or mation literacy skills by, for example, asking users to more courses, and shared by URL in e-mails, in chat
23 Learning Management Systems: Tools for Embedded Librarianship John J. Burke and Beth E. Tumbleson Course and Subject Guide Tools Presentation Tools LibGuides Google Slides http://springshare.com/libguides https://www.google.com/slides/about/ Smore Microsoft PowerPoint http://smore.com https://products.office.com/en-us/powerpoint Google Sites Prezi http://sites.google.com http://prezi.com WordPress http://wordpress.org own guides in HTML on their library websites. All of these options require the creation of style guides and templates to keep the same look and features in the sessions, and on library instruction handouts for indi- guides; this process generally might require content vidual users or groups. editors to know how to create and edit HTML docu- A method that has been used in a number of larger ments and to regularly update them. Master lists of academic institutions is the automated loading of guides also need to be updated by hand to accurately course or subject guides into LMS course sites. This is reflect changes in the names of guides, to add new a great way to get library resources into every course guides, or to remove deleted guides. In some envi- that uses the LMS (and that is likely a growing per- ronments, staff availability and expertise could keep centage of all courses offered at an institution, given these alternative approaches running flawlessly. For the statistics shared in chapter 1). This plan works, others, having the structure of LibGuides in place will however, only if librarians at an institution have cre- be extremely helpful. ated enough guides to match the courses offered at the institution. This can be done by creating a set of guides that match all of the departments represented Presentations in the curriculum or by creating a larger, more spe- cific set of guides for subject areas within the larger The embedded librarian needs to provide guidance disciplines or even for each individual course. Gen- to students on finding information for their projects erally, a university library might have some mixture in addition to providing links to the resources that of large subject and specific course guides to connect students will use. The course guide approach can with course sites and then also create a general pur- allow for the entry of brief notes or suggestions on pose research guide that can be used in courses that search strategies or choosing among databases, but lack a more tailored guide. Working with the folks for a more extended introduction, a librarian may who administer the LMS, links or widgets can be wish to link to a presentation in the LMS or on the included that will lead students from the course site course guide. Online presentation options allow for back to the full course or subject guide, or perhaps a generally linear presentation of informative con- the entire guide will be embedded on the course site. tent, giving students a way to learn about informa- LibGuides from Springshare are a popular method tion sources, database searching, navigation skills, of providing course- or subject-related guides to and related information literacy skills. The presenta- February/March 2016 library resources. Guides can be created and catego- tion can, to some degree, replace elements of a face- rized for broad subject coverage, specific topics, indi- to-face library instruction session in that an effective vidual courses, or other purposes.1 The guides may presentation can identify key terms and elements for include both links to online resources and call num- students to understand and put the use of different bers for print materials and content may include either library resources into context. bulleted lists of links or segments of explanatory text. Along with the options mentioned below, there is alatechsource.org The creation of individual guides in this product is also the possibility of including images, audio, video, supplemented by the presentation of all of the guides and hyperlinks to resources within the presentation. in a categorized, searchable list. The process is a great There is quite a bit of crossover among the tools men- mixture of flexibility in creation choices—adding dif- tioned in this chapter, where a presentation might ferent widgets, search boxes, and so forth—with the include a link to a screencast, or a screencast might ease of standardization of layouts and overall look. include introductory slides created in a presentation, Alternative approaches to creating course and sub- and so forth. There are a wide variety of free and ject guides lack the organizational options built into licensed products available for creating presentations the LibGuides system. There are easy web document to share with students. Some commonly available
Library Technology ReportsLibrary Technology creation services available like Smore.com, Google ones are listed in the gray box, including the licensed Sites, or WordPress.2 Librarians could also code their Microsoft PowerPoint and the free Google Slides and
24 Learning Management Systems: Tools for Embedded Librarianship John J. Burke and Beth E. Tumbleson Screencast Tools Interactive Tutorial Tools Adobe Captivate Guide on the Side www.adobe.com/products/captivate.html http://code.library.arizona.edu/gots TechSmith Camtasia HapYak https://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.html http://corp.hapyak.com Articulate Storyline Office Mix https://www.articulate.com/products/storyline-why https://mix.office.com .php Twine TechSmith Jing http://twinery.org www.techsmith.com/jing.html Zaption Screencast-O-Matic https://www.zaption.com http://screencast-o-matic.com
Prezi. Slides and Prezi are both web-based tools, while PowerPoint can be web-based through Office also make choices and be assessed as they learn about Online or may be installed as software on a computer research or other tasks. Tutorials can take many forms or mobile device. and can be created with combinations of approaches. As mentioned above, the licensed software listed in the section on screencasts could be used for a mul- Screencasts tistep tutorial that combined sections of screencasts with text instructions and quizzes, all laid out in a Screencasts allow audio narration over anything that linear pattern or a user-chosen route through several can be captured on a computer display. This might modules. This is not to say that every interactive tuto- include still images or individual slides from a presen- rial is a lengthy experience or filled with excessive tation, but more commonly includes video of search- depth on the topics addressed. The key element of ing a library catalog or other resource. Screencasts can these tutorials is interaction, where the user of the provide step-by-step guidance on the use of a database tutorial is asked to make a choice or give input in some or demonstrate how to locate various resources on way. It could involve someone watching a two-minute the library website or within the embedded librarian screencast and then answering two multiple-choice resources in the LMS course site. They are very effec- questions to help reinforce the learning. It could also tive because they show the user just how to get from be set up as a game-like trip through the research pro- TechnologyLibrary Reports the point of watching the screencast into the desired cess jungle, with several choices and junctures con- resource. In fact, a user can search a database in one necting sections that cover topic development, the use browser tab or window and watch a related screencast of reference sources, or article searching. A key ele- in another. ment of this experience is that it can provide students Several software applications and online tools with immediate feedback on their learning.4 are available for creating screencasts.3 The first three In addition to the screencasting software men- tools listed in the gray box are all licensed products, tioned already, there are other approaches a librarian while the other two are free web-based options (with could use to create an interactive tutorial. You could
low-cost pro versions). Captivate, Camtasia, and Sto- start relatively small by adding questions for students alatechsource.org ryline all allow a user to add quizzes, video files, and to answer at points within a screencast or presenta- other media along with screen-captured action, which tion. The free tools HapYak and Zaption can be used makes them better for multiple types of projects, to take an existing video or screencast and add multi- from short screencasts to lengthier videos or interac- ple-choice or open-entry questions for users to answer tive tutorials. Screencast-O-Matic and Jing will do an before moving on with the video. You could use Office
excellent job of capturing screen activity and combin- Mix—a free add-on for PowerPoint—to place polls, 2016 February/March ing it with narration for an effective learning object. quizzes, voice, and video into presentations and save them in a format that will work on devices whether or not they have PowerPoint installed. The open soft- Interactive Tutorials ware Guide on the Side works for placing a sidebar next to a live web browser window. Users complete Interactive tutorials take screencasts and presenta- tasks on an actual library website or in a database as tions a step further by allowing students to not only directed by the instructions in the sidebar and answer passively read and watch information on screen, but review questions that also appear there. A final tool
25 Learning Management Systems: Tools for Embedded Librarianship John J. Burke and Beth E. Tumbleson to try is Twine, which guides you in developing a non- linear tutorial in which students choose their own Collections of Library Instructional path through a series of individual pages or modules, Content which can be text-and-image-based or include videos. ANTS (ANimated Tutorial Sharing) Project The interaction in these tools can really help students www.screencast.com/users/ANTS understand the material offered in the instructional object and serve as a motivator for students to con- Atomic Learning (Higher Education) tinue with the tutorial.5 https://www.atomiclearning.com/highed LibGuides Community (search for created LibGuides by keyword) Collections of Instructional Content http://libguides.com
Keep in mind that you do not necessarily have to cre- MERLOT (Multimedia Educational Resource for Learn- ate all learning objects on your own. It is true that ing and Online Teaching; look under Academic Sup- at times you will have specific routes to databases port Services and then the Library and Information or resources that will be made clearer if you can Services category) show how to get to the resources from your library www.merlot.org website. And great value is added by describing or PRIMO (Peer-Reviewed Instructional Materials Online) outlining a search strategy for a specific assignment Database with expertise gained from working with a specific http://primodb.org instructor and the identical assignment requirements YouTube (search for a database name or library skill that students are facing. But sometimes others have topic) created wonderful introductions to topics or data- https://www.youtube.com bases that will serve your students quite well, with- out you having to create your own. A screencast of a navigational guide to a database will show an inter- face that looks much the same once the user leaves practices to consider when creating content include your website. It is wise to create your overall pres- the following: ence in the course with a mixture of self-created and shared resources. • Simplify. Be careful about the length of videos A number of learning object collections are avail- or the amount of text you are expecting students able that may have useful materials to use in your to watch or read. Stick to the essentials you need embedded librarian setting. One, Atomic Learning, to share on the topic, knowing that user behavior is a commercial product composed of short videos and just-in-time information needs tend toward a and longer tutorial collections that introduce users to more concise approach. a variety of technologies and related tasks. The Lib- • Do not trap your users. We should simplify Guide Community site is made available by Spring- things as much as possible, but there are times share but may be freely searched without the require- when topics will take more than a paragraph of ment of subscribing to LibGuides. The others listed in text or two minutes of video. Find ways in your the gray box are collections of learning objects cre- creations for users to skip past what they already February/March 2016 ated by librarians or faculty members and intended know to learn what they do not. Modularize what to be widely shared. YouTube is not precisely focused you are presenting so that they can jump ahead on learning objects, but it is a widely used channel for or pick out just the video about one aspect of, say, providing access to library screencasts and video tuto- citing articles from a particular database. rials. Searching these collections can provide helpful • Watch your language. Think about your audi- models on which to base your own learning objects, ence, where they are coming from, and what level alatechsource.org as well as materials you can place (with attribution) in of understanding they have. Avoid library lingo, your embedded courses. except where it is useful for users to learn it. Try to phrase what you have to say in active ways. • Context is king. Make sure that you are including Best Practices for Building fitting information in your learning object that Instructional Guides, does not go off on tangents. The learning object Presentations, and Tutorials should stay focused on the information need you are trying to address so that users stick with it Whenever you venture into online content creation, and see its value.
Library Technology ReportsLibrary Technology it is key to consider aspects or characteristics of suc- • Seek interaction and application. Help users cessful content that influence your creations. Some learn the material by having a ready chance to
26 Learning Management Systems: Tools for Embedded Librarianship John J. Burke and Beth E. Tumbleson apply their knowledge. This might be through an 2. See, as an example of a library guide created with interactive addition to a presentation or video, or Smore.com, “Research Resources,” Villa Maria Col- it might be a case of providing learning objects lege, accessed October 28, 2015, www.villa.edu/ academics/library/research-resources. when students are preparing or working on an 6 3. Christine Forbes, “Free Web-Based Tools for Informa- assignment connected to library resources. tion Literacy Instruction,” Library Hi Tech News 31, no. 10 (2014): 1–5. Keeping these practices in mind, it is key for 4. Katie Greer, Amanda Nichols Hess, and Elizabeth W. embedded librarians to put their best feet forward Kraemer, “The Librarian Leading the Machine: A Re- with the students and faculty they are trying to serve. assessment of Library Instruction Methods,” College Make content that fits the courses you are working and Research Libraries preprint, accepted April 2015, with. Find content that will meet needs and save you anticipated publication date May 1, 2016, http://crl time by eliminating repeated effort. Share content .acrl.org/content/early/2015/05/11/crl15-719.full .pdf+html. with your users and make an impact on their search- 5. Mandi Goodsett, “Creating Interactive Tutorials Us- ing skills and choices. ing Free Resources: Home,” Cleveland State Univer- sity, Michael Schwartz Library, 2015, http://research guides.csuohio.edu/interactivetutorials. Notes 6. Janice (Ginny) Redish, Letting Go of the Words: Writ- ing Web Content That Works, (San Francisco: Morgan 1. Ruth L. Baker, “Designing LibGuides as Instructional Kaufmann, 2007). Tools for Critical Thinking and Effective Online Learning,” Journal of Library and Information Servic- es in Distance Learning 8, no. 3–4 (2014): 107–17. TechnologyLibrary Reports alatechsource.org February/March 2016 February/March
27 Learning Management Systems: Tools for Embedded Librarianship John J. Burke and Beth E. Tumbleson Chapter 5
Communicating, Collaboration, and Citing
LMS Embedded Librarianship Thankfully, there are many citation generators and managers available today that simplify citing sources. Creating a virtual presence, online collaboration, These citation tools, guides, and tutorials are typically and academic integrity are hallmarks of LMS embed- included on the embedded librarian’s page and sent to ded librarianship. Embedded librarianship necessi- students in other messages. In all these ways, embed- tates communication and collaboration with faculty ded librarians reach out to communicate, collaborate, who open their LMS courses and with their enrolled and teach information literacy within a LMS course. students. Online communication and collaboration become all the more important when the embed- ded librarian works only virtually with stakeholders Communicating with Students in the LMS environment due to geographic distance or scheduling conflicts. To be effective as an online E-mail, which has been in use for fifty years, has research consultant, the LMS embedded librarian replaced physical and voice mail as the primary com- relies on a variety of communication tools to ful- munication method in academe, business, and govern- fill tasks: to identify the faculty member’s research ment. It is flexible and efficient in that information assignment learning outcomes and propose relevant and messages can be exchanged asynchronously. The research strategies, library resources, and services. ability to attach articles, scanned documents, presen- Sometimes these conversations lead to assignment tations, and images maximizes the usefulness of the redesign or the creation of new tutorials and guides. brief e-mail. E-mail has expanded to mobile platforms February/March 2016 LMS embedded librarians proactively engage stu- like smartphones and tablet computers. E-mail service dent researchers and respond as called upon by indi- providers like Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo! provide viduals to confer on information literacy challenges e-mail hosting servers and compete for customers throughout the research process. Some hold virtual by offering features related to their other product office hours to meet and consult with students. Others lines. Some paid e-mail services like Microsoft rely hold synchronous help sessions that are recorded and on downloaded software and are typically used by alatechsource.org shared with students who could not otherwise attend. large organizations, hosted on their own e-mail host- Sometimes chat or e-mail suffices as a communication ing servers and equipment. Other, free e-mail services method. Librarians intentionally build trusted rela- like Gmail rely on web browsers and cloud computing. tionships with individual students in order to share E-mail has become a low-cost marketing tool, used to their bibliographic and technology expertise. Often reach potential customers or, in academe, to reach embedded librarians carefully select and share tested students. Spam, unsolicited commercial e-mail fill- online collaboration tools that students may use to ing one’s inbox, and attachments that carry computer complete their group research projects and presenta- viruses are two problems associated with e-mail. tions. In addition, academic research requires adher- Spam filters and computer security industries arose to
Library Technology ReportsLibrary Technology ing to academic integrity protocols, the chief one combat these problems and are an added expense for being source citation in a discipline’s accepted style. organizations using e-mail. Google and Microsoft are
28 Learning Management Systems: Tools for Embedded Librarianship John J. Burke and Beth E. Tumbleson Free E-mail have somewhat different names, such as forums, dis- cussions, or discussion boards. These collaborative Google Gmail tools may function more or less effectively, from LMS https://mail.google.com/mail to LMS, based on user and reviewer feedback. The intent of collaborative tools is to allow users to inter- Paid E-mail act, build community, and strengthen collaboration. “Many of the underused LMS features (e.g., those that Microsoft Outlook involve collaboration) have the potential to enhance www.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook-com student learning and engagement.”2 Sometimes these lofty goals are not reached, how- Chat/IM ever, due either to pedagogical methods employed or to technology obstacles. According to an EDUCAUSE LibraryH3lp (Paid) report, the LMS collaborative tools are the least liked. https://us.libraryh3lp.com “Today, user satisfaction is highest for basic LMS fea- OCLC QuestionPoint (Paid) tures and lowest for features designed to foster col- www.questionpoint.org laboration and engagement.”3 Although students are using mobile devices more to access LMS course Zopim (1 agent only Free) content, their use of educational technologies has https://www.zopim.com remained steady over the past five years. Students admit wanting more peer collaboration technologies; however, “this study reveals a noticeable increase in the leading e-mail service providers and offer a wide the demand for more online technologies for assess- range of features. ment, collaboration with peers, administrative pur- Faculty and embedded librarians communicate poses and access to resources such as podcasts, lec- with students regularly to announce, remind, explain, ture recordings and online library resources.”4 encourage, and update students about upcoming As mentioned above, LMS collaboration tools course details and changes. Often instructors choose include blogs, wikis, discussions, and groups. to mass e-mail all or selected registered students using the LMS course e-mail. At other times, instructors will • Blogs are online journals created by individuals opt to post and e-mail an announcement so that stu- or groups to share activities, information, news, dents receive a personal message in their inbox and opinions, or research. They may include text, also see the message posted as an announcement in hyperlinks, images, audio, and video and solicit the LMS course. The LMS e-mail tool saves time and comments by others. Blogs build community and
makes ongoing communication easier. LMS embed- allow for collective reflection. TechnologyLibrary Reports ded librarians assigned to specific courses also have • Wikis can be used to organize information by the means to mass e-mail an entire class in regard to numerous contributors on this “quick” web- research assignments and to offer strategies and links site. Wikis promote interaction and cooperation to electronic resources. Virtual reference services through shared creation. inside the LMS and also based in the library utilize • Discussions are sometimes called discussion e-mail in addition to text, chat, and web conferencing. boards or forums. Students respond to the instruc- tor’s prompt and often comment on one another’s posts, thus mirroring a face-to-face classroom dis- LMS Collaboration Tools
cussion or conversation. alatechsource.org • Instructors often assign students to groups Connectivism is a pedagogical method employing col- within the LMS. Then students work together on laboration. “Connectivism focuses on learning that projects, presentations, and papers by using those occurs when individuals interact socially using col- LMS tools that enable groups to chat, e-mail, and laborative technologies. The connectivist learner pro- share documents and files.
duces knowledge through creating and sharing digital 2016 February/March artifacts.”1 LMS collaboration tools improve commu- In addition to LMS collaboration tools, there nication, learning, and teaching among students and are many third-party vendor products and free sites between student and instructor. Most LMSs include that offer tools for student collaborations and group various collaboration tools such as blogs, wikis, dis- work in connection with study and research, teach- cussions, and groups. Each has its purpose. For added ing and learning, or presenting and publishing. Out- sensory input there are collaborative tools that per- side the LMS, instructors may use third-party prod- mit inserting images and recording audio podcasts ucts that rely on cloud computing and include single and videos. Collaborative tools in different LMSs may sign-on, APIs, and dashboards for sharing data across
29 Learning Management Systems: Tools for Embedded Librarianship John J. Burke and Beth E. Tumbleson Web Conferencing Blog Software Ghost (Paid) Web conferencing offers instructional flexibility for https://ghost.org faculty and students who cannot meet at the same time and place for classroom instruction, group work, LinkedIn (Free) or consultations. Web conferencing saves travel time https://www.linkedin.com and expense by enabling students to meet virtually Postach.io (Evernote, Free) with peers, librarians, faculty, or academic advisors. http://postach.io/site Anyone with a computer, webcam, Internet access, and Silvrback (Paid) web conferencing app or program may either teach https://www.silvrback.com virtually or receive course instruction as a student via video, audio, and virtual collaboration using white- TinyPress (Github, Free) boards and group chat rooms. Sometimes instruction https://tinypress.co will be synchronous, while at other times recorded Tumblr (Free) content can be accessed asynchronously when conve- https://www.tumblr.com nient for students who live at a distance, who have competing job or family responsibilities, or who have Weebly (Free) disabilities that complicate travel. www.weebly.com Universities employ web conferencing solutions WordPress (Free) for different scenarios. Sometimes universities with https://wordpress.com multiple campuses offer a traditional course on one campus and register students from its other branch Hosted Wiki Software campuses who attend virtually via WebEx, Inter- active Video Distance Learning (IVDL), and so on. DokuWiki (Free) This blended synchronous learning maximizes the https://www.dokuwiki.org/dokuwiki# instructional reach of a university’s faculty by enroll- EditMe (Paid) ing students who typically take courses on other www.editme.com campuses. Web conferencing is essential for distance education for both web and hybrid courses. Web con- PBworks (Free) ferencing also strengthens teaching and learning in www.pbworks.com traditional courses as the instructor may hold vir- SharePoint (Paid) tual office hours, provide recorded course content https://products.office.com/en-us/sharepoint/ reviews, or flip the classroom, which involves stu- collaboration dents listening to recorded lectures, demonstrations, and presentations outside class. Classroom time is Wikispaces Classroom (Free) then reserved for problem solving, discussions, and https://www.wikispaces.com/content/classroom experiential learning that emphasizes interactive, WikiSpaces Campus (Paid) engaged activities. https://www.wikispaces.com Web conferencing enlarges the reach of univer- sities that exclusively offer online courses as well as February/March 2016 Wikis Needing Web Hosting established institutions that desire to expand course offerings virtually. “Through William & Mary’s virtual Provider learning world, students can listen to pre-recorded Drupal lectures, attend live interactive sessions led by the https://www.drupal.org professors and engage with other students in small group projects. Professors hold weekly office hours in alatechsource.org Tiki Wiki AvayaLive Engage that provide the personal connec- https://info.tiki.org tion and help eliminate many scheduling issues tied to time and place.”6 For More Information There are numerous web conferencing software WikiMatrix programs available, some proprietary and others free. www.wikimatrix.org Blackboard Collaborate offers typical features: Blackboard Collaborate is a web-based collabora- tion platform that is available through Blackboard, 5 programs. Integration of LMS and cloud computing Inc. (Blackboard Collaborate, n.d.). It offers the
Library Technology ReportsLibrary Technology or cloud services promotes cost-effective, innovative capabilities of hosting real-time sessions, has a solutions in peer collaboration. whiteboard feature, allows desktop sharing, and
30 Learning Management Systems: Tools for Embedded Librarianship John J. Burke and Beth E. Tumbleson Web Conferencing Platforms Free Document Sharing Adobe Connect (Paid) Bitrix24 www.adobe.com/products/adobeconnect.html https://www.bitrix24.com AvayaLive Engage (Paid) Google Docs https://engage.avayalive.com/Engage https://www.google.com/docs/about Blackboard Collaborate (Paid) Jumpshare www.blackboard.com/online-collaborative-learning/ https://jumpshare.com index.aspx Microsoft Office 365 Cisco WebEx (Free for 3 otherwise Paid) https://products.office.com/en-US/student/office www.webex.com -in-education FaceTime for Mac (Free) Zoho Docs www.apple.com/mac/facetime https://www.zoho.com/docs Google Hangouts (Free) https://hangouts.google.com Cloud Storage Solutions Join.Me (Free) Amazon Cloud Drive (Paid) https://www.join.me https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/home Onstream (Free) Apple iCloud (Free) www.onstreammedia.com https://www.icloud.com Skype (Free) Box (Paid) www.skype.com/en https://www.box.com Copy (Paid) is an engagement as well as a communication tool. https://www.copy.com/page/home;section:landing The software has video, audio, and phone confer- Dropbox (Free) encing capabilities, as well as a chat feature. Col- https://www.dropbox.com/en laborate sessions can be recorded and the link to a recorded session can be emailed out to students or Google Drive (Free) posted as podcasts on iTunes or other web-based https://www.google.com/drive sites.7 Mega (Free) https://mega.nz/# TechnologyLibrary Reports Web conferencing applications such as Skype and Adobe Connect enable Australian universities to uti- Microsoft OneDrive (Free) lize effective synchronous and asynchronous sessions https://onedrive.live.com/about/en-us to supervise teaching practicums, where the univer- SugarSync (Paid) sity professor, supervising teacher, and trainee stu- https://www.sugarsync.com dent-teacher may meet without the need for travel.8 Wikipedia: Comparison of file hosting services Faculty assign students to research, write, pres- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_file_ ent, and problem solve as a group. Students today hosting_services
work in collaborative learning environments as team alatechsource.org members as they will in the workforce. They typi- cally employ productivity tools to collaborate elec- access, view, and edit these shared documents can tronically. It does not matter whether they live on start the project on campus and continue working on the same campus, in the same city, or in different the current version at home. time zones. Students may create technology projects, Commonly students use Google Drive to share
write papers, build presentations, and analyze cases documents, sheets, slides, and forms because it is free. 2016 February/March in groups. They share drafts of text, spreadsheets, Zoho is another popular, free productivity tool. Some- slides, surveys, podcasts, video tutorials, code, and so times proprietary products like Office 365 are used to on. Each student contributes his portion to the larger share work. group. Collaborative learning necessitates access to Large files and documents can be saved and shared documents and spaces. Cloud computing has retrieved from shared spaces using installed software become the most affordable and convenient solution and apps. Once Dropbox is installed on one’s comput- because data is stored on remote servers that can be ers and mobile computing devices, it can be used to accessed anytime from anywhere. Those invited to save and retrieve files as needed.
31 Learning Management Systems: Tools for Embedded Librarianship John J. Burke and Beth E. Tumbleson Free Citation Generators these efficient, convenient tools to cite sources as they search for needed information. BibMe The chosen citation style often depends on the www.bibme.org subject discipline. Generally Modern Language Asso- ciation style is used in the humanities while American EasyBib Psychological Association style is used in the social www.easybib.com sciences. Chicago or Turabian style is used in history. Citefast The sciences use a variety of styles: National Library www.citefast.com of Medicine style in biology, American Chemical Soci- Cite This For Me ety style in chemistry, American Society of Civil Engi- https://www.citethisforme.com neers style for civil engineering, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers for those engineering sub- GoBiblio sets, LaTex for mathematics and statistics. For more http://gobiblio.com information, see the “Complete Discipline Listing” at Landmark, Son of Citation Machine Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab. www.citationmachine.net NoodleTools Express Complete Discipline Listing, Online Writing www.noodletools.com/noodlebib/express.php Lab, Purdue University OttoBib https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/585/2 www.ottobib.com
Free Reference Managers Beyond the finding tools themselves, students may avail themselves of citation generators and cita- Mendeley tion managers to get help citing sources. Often stu- https://www.mendeley.com dents who need to cite only several sources will turn Qiqqa to citation generators to produce automatically a cor- www.qiqqa.com rect citation for that source type, in a specific cita- tion style. There are both free and proprietary citation RefME generators available online. Many college and univer- https://www.refme.com/i/b sity libraries build their own citation generators, such Zotero as CitationBuilder by North Carolina State Univer- https://www.zotero.org sity Libraries or KnightCite by Calvin College Library. Online citation generators may be partially free for Paid Reference Managers certain citation styles, charge users for other citation styles; accept ads so that users are not charged, or RefWorks they may be entirely free. https://www.refworks.com Reference managers are intended to provide more bibliographic, sophisticated functions. They are used EndNote to store many source citations and create extensive
February/March 2016 http://endnote.com bibliographies in a wide array of styles as needed. Wikipedia: Comparison of reference management software https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_refer Notes ence_management_software 1. Neena Thota and Joao G. M. Negreiros, “Introducing
alatechsource.org Educational Technologies to Teachers: Experience Report,” Journal of University Teaching and Learn- Citation Tools ing Practice 12, no. 1 (2015): 2, Education Research Complete, EBSCOhost. Citing sources is an essential practice in research 2. Eden Dahlstrom, D. Christopher Brooks, and Jacque- and signals adherence to academic integrity. Embed- line Bichsel, The Current Ecosystem of Learning Man- ded librarians regularly provide information literacy agement Systems in Higher Education: Student, Fac- ulty, and IT Perspectives, research report (Louisville, instruction on citing sources, often at the request of CO: EDUCAUSE Center for Analysis and Research, instructors. Today, citation tools, featuring many style September 2014), 4, https://net.educause.edu/ir/ formats, are built into proprietary databases, library library/pdf/ers1414.pdf. Library Technology ReportsLibrary Technology discovery services, and search engines like Google 3. Ibid., 23. Scholar. Experienced researchers take advantage of 4. Negin Mirriahi and Dennis Alonzo, “Shedding Light
32 Learning Management Systems: Tools for Embedded Librarianship John J. Burke and Beth E. Tumbleson on Students’ Technology Preferences: Implications 7. Stephanie J. Jones and Kinsey Hansen, “Technol- for Academic Development,” Journal of University ogy Review: Virtual Intrusive Advising—Supporting Teaching and Learning Practice 12, no. 1 (2015): 11, Community College Students through Web-Based Education Research Complete, EBSCOhost. Synchronous Technologies,” Community College 5. Dian Schaffhauser, “10 Tech Tools That Inspire PBL Enterprise 20, no. 1 (2014): 91, Education Research in High School,” T H E Journal 41, no. 5 (May 2014): Complete, EBSCOhost. 10, MasterFILE Premier, EBSCOhost. 8. Yiong Hwee Teo, Sue McNamara, Geoff Romeo, and 6. Avaya, “Avaya Helps Higher Education Institutions Donna Gronn, “Enhancing Practicum Supervision Create Innovative Learning Environments for Great- with Asynchronous and Synchronous Technologies,” er Student Engagement,” news release, September Universal Journal of Educational Research 3, no. 5 29, 2014, Points of View Reference Center, EBSCO- (2015): 322–27, ERIC, EBSCOhost. host, www.avaya.com/usa/about-avaya/newsroom/ news-releases/2014/pr-140929. TechnologyLibrary Reports alatechsource.org February/March 2016 February/March
33 Learning Management Systems: Tools for Embedded Librarianship John J. Burke and Beth E. Tumbleson Chapter 6
Universal Design and Copyright Considerations
The Impacts of Universal disabilities but also imagine individuals who may not Design and Copyright on LMS be proficient English speakers or people who may be Embedded Librarianship new to using technology or library databases.2 Given the spot where we are meeting and interacting with The goals of embedded librarians can be expressed our students, there are many opportunities for barri- in many different ways, given the varieties of courses ers to appear. they work with and the differing needs of individual students and priorities of individual faculty. However, key on the mind of every embedded librarian is the Following Instructional need to have the materials shared in the course acces- Design Principles sible to all students. Likewise, librarians want to make sure that information resources are used as fully as Given the broad nature of these potential barriers, it they can be while still keeping that use within the may serve the embedded librarian well to work with law. Both of these factors can fill us at once with a a more formal set of instructional design principles. sense of opportunity and with a fear that we must This approach can guide our development of embed- follow the rules or risk disaster. These motivations ded librarian pages and learning objects, making our should not become a legal yoke of expectations for services and operations more transparent and acces- librarians to comply with, but rather they should free sible to all of our users. us to make the most of our embedded experience for One model of instructional design goes by the February/March 2016 our students. acronym ADDIE, which stands for Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation.3 ADDIE is used widely in designing learning environ- Universal Design ments to meet their intended outcomes and to assess how well they perform. First of all, it is good to get a clear idea of what uni- It is useful to use the items in the acronym as steps alatechsource.org versal design is. The concept in short is focused on to take (and repeat) when designing materials for the making a service or an object work well for people embedded librarian presence in a course. Briefly, the who have a wide range of skills and abilities.1 For steps work like this. First, you analyze the background embedded librarians, this means that we need to ask of the course and the environment you are working if the resources we share, the instructional tools we in: what does the instructor expect of students, what offer, and the course site we use are truly available to resources make the most sense to introduce, what do everyone who is taking the course. It is a fair question students already know about the subject matter, when to ask of existing services and also one to posit as we in the course is it most fitting to introduce particular plan out our activities. We should think widely here skills or resources? Then, you move to design what you
Library Technology ReportsLibrary Technology about the audience for our services and consider not will offer the course participants and when to offer it only whether or not students in the course may have in the course: contact information for the librarian, list
34 Learning Management Systems: Tools for Embedded Librarianship John J. Burke and Beth E. Tumbleson The ADDIE Model of Instructional Accessibility Design Resources System Design American Federation for the Blind, “Creating Acces- • Analysis sible Websites” www.afb.org/info/accessibility/creating-accessible • Design -websites/23 • Development CAST (Center for Applied Special Technology) • Implementation www.cast.org • Evaluation Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act www.section508.gov of databases, screencasts or interactive tutorials, guid- WebAIM (Web Accessibility in Mind) ance on citing sources, monitoring a forum or discus- http://webaim.org/articles sion board, and so on. In the middle of the process comes development, in which you create or locate the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Accessibil- materials you will need and prepare text you will use ity Initiative in the course. Then there is the implementation stage, www.w3.org/WAI where you actually put everything into place, allowing for adjustments along the way as you make the final various types of devices. Mobile devices, such as fit with material the instructor has posted. Finally, you tablets and smartphones, have reduced screen sizes evaluate the embedded experience, both by querying when compared to desktop and laptop computers, and students and faculty and by making self-assessments of they are growing steadily in use. Embedded librar- how well the design worked.4 And then the cycle begins ians need to consider what their learning objects and anew, with the next embedded course improving on pages look like on smaller screens. Responsive design the lessons learned from each prior offering. is an approach to designing websites and database interfaces so that they scale nicely between different screen sizes and resolutions. Following the tenets of Accessible Design Considerations responsive design can ensure that pages are adjusted to work in these situations. It is sometimes used as an This discussion of ADDIE leads well into considering alternative to building a separate mobile site or app the issue of accessibility when analyzing the envi- for a site or a product like an LMS.5 ronment of the course and the eventual design and development of materials to include in the embed- ded librarian presence. It is important to remem- Copyright Considerations in TechnologyLibrary Reports ber that there may be individuals taking part in the LMS Embedded Librarianship course with extremely low vision or no vision who are accessing these electronic resources using screen- While this is not an extensive examination of copy- reader software or other adaptive means. Designing right, it seems appropriate to address some issues online content means that you have to consider how related to licensed resources and how they may be used learning objects or embedded librarian pages will dis- in educational settings. Going back to the start of this play in a text-based browser or how well alt tags will chapter, if the embedded librarian intends to ensure convey what an image represents. Captioning, which access to licensed materials to the widest extent possi-
addresses the needs of students with hearing impair- ble under the law, then we had better understand the alatechsource.org ments and those using text-based browsers, needs to law. Copyright law is established to protect the rights be available for screencasts or videos as well. These of copyright holders to profit from what they create. are just a few of the considerations that must be made The fair use provision in the law allows for a variety to ensure that your resources are usable. Several of possible educational uses of copyrighted materials, design standards are available that can help guide you and the TEACH Act extends some further educational
in this design. Be sure to check the sites listed in the uses to the digital realm. More information on each 2016 February/March gray box for background reading, specific guidance, of these is available in the resources listed in the gray and sites that can help test out your content. box, but generally, in an academic setting, in the LMS, instructors and students are operating in an environ- ment where they can use many licensed resources Responsive Design without fear of challenging copyright law or overstep- ping the provisions of licenses. One further exploration of universal design is the So, what does this mean for how embedded librar- recognition that resources must function well on ians act? We can guide faculty in placing links to online
35 Learning Management Systems: Tools for Embedded Librarianship John J. Burke and Beth E. Tumbleson Copyright and Licensing so long as credit is given. We can also make use of Creative Commons–licensed materials and images in Resources our learning objects, giving credit as required by the Fair Use—Columbia University Libraries Copyright licenses. Advisory Office Providing access, protecting and teaching the https://copyright.columbia.edu/basics/fair-use.html principles of access, and designing to ensure access: three excellent roles for the embedded librarian. Pur- The TEACH Act and Some Frequently Asked Ques- suing these aims serves our students and faculty well tions—American Library Association as we accompany them in the LMS. www.ala.org/advocacy/copyright/teachact/faq About—Creative Commons http://creativecommons.org/about Notes 1. Janet Gronneberg and Sam Johnston, Seven Things You Should Know about Universal Design for Learning resources (articles, digital videos, e-books, etc.) in their (Louisville, CO: EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative, April course sites rather than posting PDFs or video files 6, 2015), www.educause.edu/library/resources/7 (though it can be argued that this is a proper fair use -things-you-should-know-about-universal-design activity) since posting a link precludes making a copy -learning. of something. We can model good behavior for students 2. Lisa Felix, “Design for Everyone,” Library Journal 133, no. 16 (2008): 38–40. by citing the items we link to or refer to in text or vid- 3. Steven J. Bell and John D. Shank, Academic Librari- eos we create, giving credit where credit is due. We anship by Design: A Blended Librarian’s Guide to the are not the copyright police, but rather educators and Tools and Techniques (Chicago: American Library As- guides to copyright and licensing issues. Aufderheide sociation, 2007). and Jaszi’s book is an excellent read on other ways to 4. Beth E. Tumbleson and John Burke, Embedding Li- imagine and apply fair use and the TEACH Act, both of brarianship in Learning Management Systems: A How- which have great relevance to our work in the LMS.6 To-Do-It Manual (Chicago: Neal-Schuman, an imprint And, in addition to licensed resources, embedded of the American Library Association, 2013), 70–88. librarians can also advocate for the use of various open 5. Nick Pettit, “The 2014 Guide to Responsive Web Design,” Team Treehouse (blog), June items that use alternative copyright measures or none 2, 2014, http://blog.teamtreehouse.com/ at all. These may include open educational resources modern-field-guide-responsive-web-design. (OERs), which were addressed in chapter 2, or various 6. Patricia Aufderheide and Peter Jaszi, Reclaiming Fair Creative Commons–licensed works, which are made Use: How to Put Balance Back in Copyright (Chicago: available for use and sometimes remixing and reuse University of Chicago Press, 2011). February/March 2016 alatechsource.org Library Technology ReportsLibrary Technology
36 Learning Management Systems: Tools for Embedded Librarianship John J. Burke and Beth E. Tumbleson Notes Notes Notes Library Technology REPORTS
Upcoming Issues
Mobile Learning Trends: April Accessibility, Ecosystems, Content Creation 52:3 by Nicole Hennig
May/June Privacy in Library Automation Products 52:4 by Marshall Breeding
July Improving Visibility on the Web 52:5 by Ted Fons
Subscribe alatechsource.org/subscribe
Purchase single copies in the ALA Store alastore.ala.org
alatechsource.org ALA TechSource, a unit of the publishing department of the American Library Association