Courseware

[Gregory Sennema]

Greetings

I am curious to now how academic libraries are dealing with
institutional courseware such as Blackboard or WebCT.  Our institution
is using Blackboard, managed by our IT department, and it is
increasingly being used for online reserves and even information
searching.      

-Are there examples of academic libraries managing (e.g.) Blackboard
(instead of IT department)?  
-If managed by the IT department, is there much dialog with librarians
about training, managing content, etc.
-Do your library webpages link to (e.g.) Blackboard?  
-Does (e.g.) Blackboard link back to the library's resources?  
-Do any of you worry that (e.g.) Blackboard offers a searchable
resource area which claims extensive coverage even though it seems to
contain only recent newswire items?  
-Do your patrons have to find reserve items in three areas: the
library's print reserves, the library's electronic reserves, and (e.g.)
Blackboard?

Any insight would be appreciated.




Greg Sennema
Digital Resources Librarian
Hekman Library
Calvin College and Calvin Theological Seminary
3207 Burton St SE
Grand Rapids, MI 49546
tel: (616) 957-8455
fax: (616) 957-6470