Integrating Library Services and Resources with Canvas

The purpose of this library guide is to help instructors effectively integrate library services and functions into their Canvas course sites. These services include adding library staff to your Canvas site, providing direct access to course-specific library resources, and adding library instructional content to your Canvas site. Need more information or help than this guide can provide? Contact e-learning-lib@umich.edu.

Library Collaborators

Invite library staff into your Canvas course site. Once invited, they can add course content and materials, post announcements, moderate discussions, answer student questions on research, and work more efficiently as a collaborator. On the Add a Librarian page, learn more about who you can add, and how.

Library Tools

There are almost as many ways to bring the Library into your course site as there are courses. Each course, each instructor, each collection of students, each term presents unique needs, opportunities and challenges. Beginning in July 2021, U-M instructors can add "Library Tools" to their Canvas sites. Once added, Library Tools represents a blank canvas for assembling a one-stop landing page for a variety of library resources and services.

On the Library Tools page, learn more about which tools are available, how to add them, and how to get help.

Library Modules

U-M librarians and staff have created an ever-expanding collection of library instruction lessons using Canvas' Modules tool. Instructors can preview these modules, import them into their own Canvas sites, and customize the content if appropriate. Popular modules include information literacy topics, research methods and tools, and navigating discipline-specific resources.  Many modules can stand alone as self-guided activities for students.  Others modules are often offered as preparatory materials for live library instruction sessions.

On the Library Modules page, learn more about how to preview existing modules, how to add them to your Canvas site, and how to get help.

Best Practices

The Canvas Best Practices guide includes our E-Learning Team's recommendations for building modules and presenting other content in Canvas. These practices put a premium on consistency, accessibility, and ease of use for students.