Utilizing Blackboard to provide library instruction: uploading MS Word handouts with links to course specific resources

Collaboration among three university departments resulted in a successful venture to integrate an innovative electronic element into an online course management system (Blackboard). A faculty member from the school of business and two library faculty, with assistance from the University’s Center for Information Technology, developed a unique, yet simple, method for incorporating library instruction handouts into course‐specific online classes. At the end of the semester, students were surveyed and data were collected, analyzed, and compared; the results overwhelmingly indicated that utilizing online courseware in library instruction was a useful and time saving tool for participating students. The simplicity of the method used to create these handouts lends itself to application in other areas of study, and use with online courseware other than Blackboard.