Project Development and Credits. Searchpath. BHC Library Tutorial.

The SearchPath tutorial was adapted for Black Hawk College by Caroline Barnes and David Hawk with help from reference librarians Charlet Key and Pat Beitel. The lion's share of this tutorial came from Western Michigan University's (WMU) SearchPath tutorial. The nucleus of Module 4, a tutorial for InfoTrac's Expanded Academic ASAP database, was developed by Chris Niemeyer at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

The WestCat tutorial was replaced with tutorials for BHC's Library Catalogs in Module 3.
The tour of WMU's Article Database collection was replaced with Chris Niemeyer's InfoTrac Expanded ASAP tutorial in Module 4.
The flying "WestCat" in the overload flash in Module 1 was replaced with a more generic "Library Catalog".
Several changes were made to the thinkfast flash:

The exit URL was previously a hardcoded URL in the www.wmich.edu tutorial site. It has been changed to a site relative URL (17-end.html).
By popular request, the game was slowed down a bit (from 80 frame/sec to 60 frames/sec).
As provided, the "Quality over Quantity" item cutely changes to "Quantity over Quality", and the given answer is correct for this final view. However, if an answer is clicked while it still shows "Quality over Quantity", the wrong answer is given. Logic has been added so that the answer changes depending on where in the timeline it is clicked.

The file "intro\01-get-ready.html" has been replaced with a series of automatic (and mostly silent) browser checks which include instructions for fixing things that will be a problem later in the tutorial. The intention is to allow the students themselves to fix the problems before starting the tutorial, and not have to ask for technical assistance from the Reference Librarians.

A silent check is made to ensure that JavaScript is enabled. Instructions are included for enabling JavaScript on most popular browsers.
A silent check is made to ensure that the browser is sufficiently up to date to run the tutorial (BHC Searchpath requires Internet Explorer 5+ or Netscape 6.2+). Instructions are given for upgrading older browsers.
A warning of pending inconvenience is given if the screen resolution is less that 768x1024. The warning is accompanied by a suggestion to increase the resolution if possible.
A silent check is made to ensure cookies are enabled. If not, browser specific instructions are given for enabling cookies for most popular browsers.
An silent test for the presence of the MacroMedia Flash Player is performed. If not present, a screen is displayed giving the user the option of downloading the Flash Player. A cookie is set to indicate whether or not Flash is present, and throughout the rest of the tutorial the cookie is checked to automatically chose between Flash and Non-Flash versions of content.
A non-silent test is performed to see if pop-up Windows are disabled by a pop-up ad blocker. If pop up windows are disabled, it is suggested that they be enabled, at least for the BHC website.

The glossary entry about Library of Congress Subject Headings was deleted because it actually described Library of Congress Call Numbers.
Numerous minor changes throughout Searchpath were made to customize it for the BHC community.

Project Development
A Teaching with Technology grant from Western Michigan University provided funding for release time for the author, assistance with coding, and software. Joe Reish and Bettina Meyer lent the support of the University Libraries, as did Maria Perez-Stable.

Credits
We would like to acknowledge our debit to Judith Arnold and Patricia VanderMeer as pioneers, as well as to the outstanding example of TILT, from which we drew inspiration. TILT’s Open Publication License opened up new possibilities for interactivity in Searchpath.

The librarians and students who are primarily responsible for Searchpath are:

Media Production at WMU created the the Flash pieces for information literacy in Module 1, as well as the opening page graphic. Special thanks to Sarah Welshman and Joe Hawver, students extraordinaire, who patiently lent themselves to this endeavor. We would also like to acknowledge Brandon Meissner, as well as Aedin Clements, David Isaacson, Patricia VanderMeer, and Laurel Grotzinger for their editing suggestions.

The "Call Numbers" page, is reproduced with the permission of Seattle Community College District Libraries at http://dept.sccd.ctc.edu/libraries . Many of the graphics came from TILT, others were created by Elaine Anderson Jayne, Judith Arnold, or come from free clip art collections such as the Action-Links Clip Art Archive and the Northern Illinois University images . Permission was granted by the New Yorker for the use of the "On the Internet, nobody knows you are a dog" cartoon. The photo of Martin Luther King, Jr. in Module 6 is courtesy of WMU Archives & Regional History Collections.

BHC Searchpath material © 2004 by the Board of Trustees of Black Hawk College. Original Searchpath material © 2001-2002 by the Board of Trustees of Western Michigan University. Searchpath incorporates material from TILT, a tutorial developed by the Digital Information Literacy Office for the University of Texas System Digital Library, © 1998-2002. The InfoTrac Expanded Academic ASAP tutorial in Module 4 was developed by Chris Niemeyer at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. This material may be reproduced, distributed, or incorporated only subject to the terms and conditions set forth in the Searchpath Open Publication License .