1. What is a Blackboard Community?
 Similar to a Blackboard
Course
 Designed for non-academic
use
 Access based on
membership
 Listed on Community Tab

2. Creating and Populating a Community
 IT created community shell
for Library
 Library added content
 Batch enrolled everyone at
MSU
 Batch enrollment occurs
twice a year

3. Mission of Library Community
 Marketing tool for Library
 Primarily geared to students
 One of the few channels for
communicating with students

4. Announcements
 First section displayed upon
entering community
 Highlights new resources,
services, events, changes in
library hours, etc.
 New announcements appear
on main Blackboard page and
in community

5. Library Info
 Provides quick information
that students need
 Typical items include library
hours and popular services
like laptop loan
 Updated every semester in
response to changing library
hours and services

6. Featured E-Resource
 Publicizes an electronic
resource
 Focuses on underutilized or
little known resource

7. Librarian Spotlight
 Personalizes Library
Community
 Familiarizes students with
individual librarians (includes
interests, subject strengths,
and professional pursuits)
 Includes photo

8. Newsroom
 Venue for posting information
on key internet resources
 Highlights education-related
websites, online reference
tools/databases, digital
collections, etc.

9. Library Trivia
 Adds fun and entertaining
side to Library Community
 Little known facts about
Sprague Library and the
Library world
 Examples include size of our
collection, oldest existing
library, meaning of
“loremipsum”, etc.

10. Discussion Board
 Provides forum for
asynchronous discussion
 Ideal for discussion related to
using eResources in a
particular subject area

11. Mobile Blackboard and Rave/Cell Phone
 Mobile Blackboard users can
receive community
announcements
 Announcements can be sent
as text messages or emails
 Users register for Mobile
Blackboard on the MSU
Phone Apps website
 Added 3,052 users since
Nov 2010 (27.7% increase)

12. Mobile Blackboard and Rave/Cell Phone

13. Usage Statistics
 Assessment is critical to any
marketing strategy
 Usage statistics indicate if
you’re achieving goals
 Difficult to generate statistics
in Blackboard (size of
membership)
 Ran multiple reports by
alphabetical grouping
 Initial statistics were
encouraging (3,208 hits)

14. Benefit of Technology to Library Users
 Easy to find information on library resources, services,
policies, programs, etc.
 View announcements from Blackboard main page
 Announcements can be received as text messages or
emails using Mobile Blackboard
 Become more familiarized with Library Staff
 Creates comfortable environment for interfacing with
the Library

15. Benefit of Technology
to Information Community
 Venue for marketing services/resources and informing
the campus about professional activities
 Provides effective reach into student body and faculty
 Modest commitment of time to manage

16. Impact of Technology on Librarians and
Library Operations
 Library more integrated into students’ electronic
classroom experience
 Library has greater visibility
 New channel of communications for library which has
assumed a major role
 Personalized the library’s presence online

17. Impact of Technology on Perception of
Librarians and Library
 Librarians seen as full participants in electronic
classroom environment
 Librarians seen as technologically informed
 Librarians’ skills more valued and seen as colleagues