This Blackboard Building Block was developed by the OLIVE[1] project team at the University of Westminster.
For further information please contact the OLIVE project manager at the University of Westminster:
Two branded versions of this Building Block were produced. Each of the Building Blocks has identical functionality and differs only in that the University of Westminster uses a branded version of MetaLib named InfoLinX, and the Building Block in use reflects the InfoLinX branding.
Only the standard MetaLib branded Building Block is available for download from the locations below.
Audience:
Blackboard system administrators wishing to install the MetaLib Search Building Block should read this document.
Location:
The MetaLib Search Building Block file developed for Blackboard 6 can be downloaded from a number of locations:
For users interested in the java source code used by the Building Block to communicate with the MetaLib X-Server, please contact the OLIVE project manager.
Structure:
Blackboard Building Blocks (also known as plugins or system extensions) are .zip or .war files that have a certain structure defined by Blackboard. For more information on Building Block development consult the Blackboard Building Blocks System Extension Developers Guide.
The Building Block only requires Blackboard system extension privileges to create socket connections. This is required to access the MetaLib X-Server and web site.
The Building Block cannot carry out any create/modify operations on users, courses or course content.
Set-up & Configuration:
The Building Block should be installed by a Blackboard system administrator using the “Manage System Extensions page”. For more information consult the Blackboard Learning System Administrator Manual.
Once the Building Block is installed, it can be configured using the Properties button.
All of the steps listed on the configuration page are mandatory to correctly configure the Building Block.
The following page will be displayed:
Because the Metalib X-server is used by this Building Block, it is very important to make sure that the username and password specified are configured in MetaLib as a MetaLib administrator. Please contact the systems librarian, or who ever is in charge of library systems, if you do not know this information.
If the Building Block username/password do not match a Metalib administrator username and password, an error message will be displayed on submitting this page.
This Building Block uses the Metalib X-server functionality to retrieve the list of resource categories defined within Metalib. The advantage in using this functionality is that when the resource categories are updated in Metalib, the changes will be reflected in the Blackboard Building Block when the list of resource categories are refreshed.
The category refreshment occurs weekly, or manually via the Manage Systems Extensions page using the Properties button to display the configuration page for the Building Block.
The resource categories are displayed in the drop down list displayed in both the MetaLib search and subject specific link pages; these are detailed below.
The MetaLib search page allows a Blackboard user (student or staff) to search MetaLib in 4 ways:
In the Blackboard Portal System edition, this search page can be made active as a tab by a Blackboard system administrator clicking ‘Manage Tabs’ in the Portal Area of the System Admin tab of Blackboard, adding a new ‘Tool tab’, and selecting the MetaLib tool.
In the Blackboard Learning System edition, this search page must be added on a per-course basis. This is achieved by:
For more information on Blackboard administration consult the Blackboard Learning System Administrator Manual.
This page can be accessed by a course instructor from the Control Panel for their course, and clicking ‘MetaLib –Subject Specific Search’ in the Course Tools area.
The ‘MetaLib –Subject Specific Search’ page allows instructors to create category specific links directly to MetaLib resources. This link can then be pasted into a document or web page.
[1] http://www.wmin.ac.uk/olive/