BOLT Library Content

Library content is easily included in BOLT courses to help students discover high-quality sources (electronic journals, books & ebooks, streaming video, and library databases) for their assignments and projects.

Library content is added to BOLT courses in one of two ways:

1. Automatic tool (aka the 'simple method') is explained on this page
2. Manual Tool (aka the 'some assembly required method') is explained on the next page

The Automatic tool adds pre-selected library content automatically to all BOLT courses by means of a Library Guide widget on all BOLT course home pages, as shown below. 

By clicking on Library Guide, the student sees a page like this --

Q: How does the Library Guide know which course guide or discipline guide to display? 

Course guides for specific courses (like CRIMJUST 255: Criminal Justice Research) have the course code and number metadata added to them. In this case, CRIMJUST 255 was added to the course guide metadata, which makes it appear automatically in the corresponding BOLT course.  Discipline guides have only course codes added to them, no course numbers. For example, the Psychology Discipline Guide appears in all courses with the PSYCH course code, regardless of number. Talk to your librarian if you have further questions.

Q: Can the Library Guide link to a different guide in my BOLT course? 

A: Yes, certainly. Talk to your librarian liaison, the librarian who works with your department, to discuss your options. You can request a new guide be developed for your course, or you can see the available Discipline Guides and Course Guides on the Research Guides page for a guide that may work better for your course.

Q: Can I have a guide developed for a specific section of a course?

Yes, it's possible to associate a guide with a specific section of a course. This may be useful when there are multiple sections of a course that use the same course number but are very different. For example, INTSTUDY 100 43: University Seminar, is the section offered by the Communication Studies Department, and a guide was developed specifically for that section, using the metadata INTSTUDY 100 43. Again, talk to your librarian if you have further questions.

Q: What courses does the Education discipline guide appear in? 

Education courses offered at BU use several different course codes, including EDFOUND, EDL, ELEMED, PROFSTUD, READING, and SECED course codes. All these course codes have been associated with the Education Discipline Guide .

Q: I'm happy with the information that displays for my course Library Guide, but  can this information also be added to the Content area?

Yes, instructors can add the same info to their Content area.  Go to the Content area where you want to link to appear, and click on Existing Activities > External Learning Tools > Library Guides Automatic Tool. The same page appearing for the Library Guide will also appear here. TIP: Since the link will be labeled 'Library Guides Automatic Tool,' you may want to rename it something more descriptive, like Library Info or Library Guide. Again, if you have questions, contact your librarian liaison.

Q: This is all good, but what if I want to add a specific [book, tutorial, video, or part of a guide or page, etc.] to my BOLT course?

The Manual tool, explained on the next page of this guide, allows you to pick specific resources to add to your BOLT courses.

The Automatic tool uses a protocol called Learning Tool Interoperability (LTI) to find matches between BOLT course metadata and library resource metadata, previously added by a librarian to the course and discipline research guides. The LTI always searches for the most specific match for a BOLT course, a library course guide, and if there is none, then searches for the next most specific match, a library discipline guide. If neither is found, then the tool searches for matches to subject-specific library databases and contact information for the subject librarian(s). It also adds some standard information (the Library's hours, a link to the research consultation scheduler, a chat box, and a Library FAQ search box). If there is no library content associated for the course code, then the Library Guide will link to the Library home page.

The Manual tool, explained on the next page of this guide, allows instructors to completely customize the library content added to their courses based on their learning goals.