Library Widget for Moodle

Any course within a course management system is generally considered the intellectual space of the professor teaching it. Research tools and guides, such as search boxes for discovery services or links to course-specific and subject-specific guides, are created and maintained by librarians. In trying to get our tools and services closer to where students spend their time devoted to coursework, Oakland University libraries have developed a library widget – a self-serve code generator that allows professors to select what tools and services they want to bring into their course space. This approach has proven to be flexible, because it does not depend on a library presence within the course management system. It also offers persistent presence within courses since professors can archive courses, including the library widget, at the end of a semester and restore them in the system in future semesters. We are using the library widget as a pilot to inform decisions on future full integration of such functionality into Moodle.