Ubiquitous Research: Integrating Library Resources into Online Courses

From ebooks to ipods, library collections and services are no longer constrained by physical boundaries. Online tools such as Google Scholar, del.icio.us, YouTube, and Open Educational Resources are just a few examples of collections that include useful scholarly information, and constitute a research landscape that is varied and complex. Academic librarians’ traditional roles are expanding as scholarly information is disseminated in a variety of new formats. At the same time, the popularization of user-generated content for scholarly purposes compels librarians to teach students to critically appraise information found in all contexts. The diversity of formats and online tools allows for easy integration of library collections and services into online learning environments, which provides a rich pathway for introducing students to library research. This article discusses the experience of academic librarians in integrating library collections, reference service, and information literacy into Blackboard. Specifically, the authors discuss approaches to ascertaining information needs of faculty, organizing resources and services within the Blackboard environment, working with faculty to identify external technologies, especially social software, to enhance the learning experience.