By Professor Linda Miles, Library
There’s a new way to get information and guidance from the Hostos Library to your students—right where and when they need it: in Blackboard. During the past several years, Hostos Librarians have set up numerous online guides on a platform called “LibGuides.” These guides are usually tailored to a specic discipline, class, or even to a specic assignment. For instance, here is one called “Psychology Research Jumpstart”: https://guides.hostos.cuny.edu/PsychologyResearchJumpStart and another that is specific to a particular research assignment for an Education course: https://guides.hostos.cuny.edu/EDU101.
We even have a “Research 101” guide with information that can help any student in any class who is struggling with a research assignment: https://guides.hostos.cuny.edu/ResearchGuide.
Beginning in the Fall of 2018, you will notice an option in the Tools menu of Blackboard labeled “Library Research Help.” Clicking on this link, students will find the most specific information available to help them with their information research. If there is a guide set up that addresses a specific research assignment, like the “EDU 101” guide listed above, that very specific guide will appear. If there is no assignment-specific guide for that course, there may be a discipline-specific guide that appears. The Psychology guide listed above is an example of a discipline-specific guide. If there is no assignment-specific or discipline-specific guide for that course, then students who click on “Library Research Help” will see the “Research 101” guide.
Anyone interested in working with a librarian to develop a tailored guide should contact her or his library liaison, listed here: https://guides.hostos.cuny.edu/facultytoolkit/liaisons. It is possible to design a guide for a discipline, a course, or even for a particular section of a course. The tool also has a manual mode, which individual faculty can use to embed LibGuides content anywhere within Blackboard—not just on the “Library Research Help” page. (You can browse our existing roster of guides here: https://guides.hostos.cuny.edu.) If you’d like more information about how to consult with a librarian to develop a guide, ideas on how to build awareness and engage students, or if you have any questions at all about the initiative, you can contact: Professor Linda Miles Library (lmiles@hostos.cuny.edu).
