Univ. of Rochester course resource project

[Susan Gibbons]

Greetings! 
 
At the University of Rochester (NY) Libraries, we have developed a new
web-based service that tailors library resources to each individual
course offering on campus.  We would appreciate any comments or feedback
that the participants of Web4Lib may have to offer.
 
Built upon the MyLibrary concept, at the foundation of the system is a
database of “best” library resources, including books, journals,
websites and article databases.  Associations are then made between the
resources and course offerings using both broad strokes (Groves
Dictionary of Music to all courses in the Music Department) or very fine
strokes (Sondheim.com website to only Music 141 “Sondheim & Modern
Musical Theater”).  The result of these associations is a
dynamically-created webpage that provides the student with easy access
to the best library resources tailored to each course.  We also use this
page as the link to any course reserve materials and, whenever possible,
include a link to a professor’s course homepage or WebCT page.  
 
The submission of resources into the system, as well as the process of
associating resources to courses is done through a series of web-based
forms.  As a result, bibliographers can create these pages without any
knowledge of HTML.  At present, the system only creates a page for those
classes that have material on reserves, and the bibliographers have
focused their energies over the past summer on those classes that
historically have used reserves.  Since the associations between
resources and courses carry over from semester to semester, a repeated
course should require very little, if any, tweaking.  Thus the
bibliographers’ overall workload should diminish as fewer and fewer new
courses are introduced to the system.
 
Since no login or subscription is required, no extra effort is needed
on the part of the student to receive benefits from the system. 
Moreover, it should assist students with immediate information needs in
a way that some MyLibrary systems cannot, since resources are provided a
course-level and not on the level of a student’s major or profile—thus
the biology student is able to find library material for his/her
required American history course.  
 
This service, which has yet to be named, is linked off of the Univ. of
Rochester Libraries homepage (http://www.library.rochester.edu/).  Click
on Course Resources / Reserves on the right-hand side and pick a course
from the drop-down list.   
 
Any and all comments/reactions/questions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
 
Susan Gibbons
Digital Initiatives Librarian
University of Rochester
585-275-6320
sgibbons at library.rochester.edu



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