This document provides instructions on how to integrate course resources into the Library Dashboard in Canvas. The dashboard is a tool that connects students and staff to UW Library resources and services in Canvas. The library dashboard appears in all Canvas courses, non-credit and credit. However, course resources can only be integrated into timetable credit courses - that excludes orientations, communities of practice, and training courses.

Library Dashboard Course Resources

The Library Dashboard can be customized to include course resources. A message visible only to instructors in the dashboard provides a path for instructors to request course resources. The library dashboard does not replace library instruction delivered through Canvas modules, discussion boards, etc. The library dashboard connects students/staff automatically with instructional content: course reading lists, course guides, and librarian contact information. If an instructor requests a library instruction session or course resources you will need to identify the subject number and course number, which can be done through Course Reading Lists.

To locate the subject and course number: 

1. Locate course through the Course Reading List page
2. Once you have selected the course, document the subject number and course number - which are the last six digits of the url. An example image is below. The subject number for English is 352 and the course number is 328. The subject and course number are always three-digits each. 

Once you have the subject and course number, you can integrate course resources into the Library Dashboard.

Librarians: For your contact information to appear in the course, fill out the Librarian in Library Dashboard form. 

• Enter the course name (it can be shortened)
• Enter the subject and course number that you identified from the course reading list page. 
• Enter your name or select a group if you want a group profile to appear. Group profiles are recommended for large courses with multiple sections, e.g. Com Arts 100. 
• If multiple librarians should be added to a single course, you can add all librarian names to the same form rather than filling out the form multiple times.
• Enter the Section Number. Only include a section number(s) if you should not be visible to all sections of the course, e.g. three sections are being taught by librarian A and three section by library B. 

Course Reading List:

• Course Reading lists provide links to course content that is cataloged through Alma and appear in our catalog.
• Follow your normal procedure of notifying instructional content librarians of a reading list request. Course Reading Lists will be automatically pulled into the Library Dashboard once they are created.

 Course Guide: Follow the steps below to tag your course guide.

Course guides can be connected to a course in the Library Dashboard by entering the subject and course number as a tag. If needed, more than one course guide can be attached to a course. Course guides rely on the campus system to update, so it may take up to an hour or more to appear in the course after you have tagged them - please be plan ahead and be patient. 

1. Select the blue edit pencil next to "URL" and edit the URL to be a friendly URL, such as the course acronym and number - lsc360 or com100
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2. Select the blue edit pencil next to "Tag"
3. Enter the subject and course number in this format "course-xxx-xxx" (all lowercase) and hit enter on your keyboard. This will be the format for the majority of course guides.  
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   • If only one section of the course should see the guide, you would enter the section number in the tag as well: "course-xxx-xxx-xxx". Section numbers will always be three numbers and can be found in the course search and enroll. A section can be the following: lecture, section, lab, discussion. For example, History 201 is a topic course with 11 different lectures. To ensure that the right course guide appears for each lecture, the section number needs to be added on the end: "course-448-201-001", this tag would add the guide to Lecture 001 of History 201.
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4. Select the blue "ok" button and your tag has been added to the course guide.
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Library Contact:

For questions about the library dashboard or to provide feedback, contact anstark@wisc.edu