Academic staff reading lists
The Reading Lists team are here over the summer preparing for the new academic year. The team may be in touch with you as module leaders as we proactively contact new modules about to go live to ensure resources are in place ready for the students at the beginning of term. The team also deal with all enquiries from colleagues, update existing lists, investigate e-books for ordering, organise additional print copies, transfer items into our short loan collection and arrange digitisation of chapters/article under the CLA licence, to name but a few tasks.
A new reading list interface
We are currently working with our system provider to beta test a new interface which will be rolled out in 2023/24. We will keep module leaders updated with any changes and new features. The new interface is designed to be more user friendly for students viewing the lists via a range of different devices, but also for academic colleagues who add/edit their own lists.
Reading lists available in Canvas
Module areas and associated reading lists are now available for 2023/24 within Canvas to populate and edit. Internally we have tweaked the process behind how the reading lists are rolled over into the new academic year. Previously we took a carbon copy and attached this to the module running in that academic year. We also retained a 3 year rolling archive of previous academic years lists. We no longer do this and there is only one static version of each list which is attached to a module. This will streamline access and prevent issues with modules which are joined to other module codes.
For academics this means when you access your module area on Canvas you see a link which takes you to the only version of that reading list which can be edited at any time. If you want to make major changes to your reading list but would like students who have studied in previous years to have access to an original version then please get in touch prior to any changes and we will be able to help.
During the summer and before teaching begins we recommend you:
Update the online Reading List and direct students to use it
Make sure each citation is tagged as essential, recommended or background. These tags help students prioritise their reading and also helps the library make decisions about appropriate stock levels.
Add items to your reading list
The online system allows you to add items which we already have in stock using a link to our catalogue, Library Search. You can also add items which we don't hold yet and these will be automatically investigated as orders by our acquisitions team.
There is also new functionality within Canvas and our reading list system which allows academics to embed citations into Canvas pages to direct students to readings.
Check out our create, curate, captivate toolkit
This toolkit provides help and tips to support academic staff who want to evaluate and enhance their reading lists against criteria such as diversity, accessibility and structure, and improve student engagement.
It provides a step-by-step approach to help you review your existing reading list and diversify its content: for example, by finding and including materials from a wider range of publishers, and in different formats, and it highlights useful projects and resources elsewhere.