ReadingLists@UCL

Students! Reading Week is an ideal time for you to catch up on suggested reading and prepare for assignments. Online reading lists offer a quick and easy way to look back over the tailored list of resources your department has provided for your module.

ReadingLists@UCL have had a fantastic response from undergraduates and postgraduates alike, with both enjoying the easily accessible resources all in one place. Students say:

“This service is brilliant and has been really helpful”

“Very useful tool… made looking for books so much easier”

“Good because you can link through to a text directly”

Core readings often link to full-text e-journal articles, e-books or digitised readings (from our Course Readings Service). Lists can contain a variety of other resources, including film or TV clips, online training tutorials with Lynda.com, professional body webpages, image database resources… or simply further reading in a traditional bibliography format. Where books are in the library, there are links to Explore so you can see immediately whether the book is on the shelf or place a reservation if it is on loan.

Tutors can add notes to guide you, or tags to show which are essential readings. Lists can be sorted by importance or resource-type, for example to pull out essential readings or film clips. You can also add your own private notes (remember to sign in first!), or export citations, ready to use in EndNote, Zotero or any other bibliographic management tool you use. Perhaps most importantly you can re-format the list into a different citation style, invaluable when referencing your sources. This year more citation styles were added, as requested by departments, and we welcome feedback on other developments you would like to see.

Find reading lists for your courses through Moodle via a link in the ‘Library resources’ block. You can also search the ReadingLists@UCL Homepage by module code or title, by your lecturer’s name if they have added this, or browse by department. Find more information on the student information webpage for reading lists or contact your Subject or Site Librarian.

Many academics have been won over by the system. An academic new to UCL was struggling to find time to produce digitised readings for her first class. We helped by providing copyright compliant versions of the scans, linked to her online reading list: “You are truly a heroic library team! Thank you so much for going above and beyond!”. Benefits for teaching staff include the ability to update readings and publish immediately, and a flexible layout. Once set up, you take ownership and can share editing rights with colleagues.

Some departments have been quick to seize this easy way of improving student satisfaction: Political Science, the Development Planning Unit and the Institute of Neurology were among the first departments to create online lists for 100% of their taught courses. To help meet students’ needs the UCL Library Services Strategy 2015-18 plans to support the take-up of ReadingLists@UCL across all departments.

Comments such as “Can I have a list for my other modules?” are not uncommon, so we urge academics and support staff to get in touch for further information or request a list; alternatively, drop in to a hands-on session to find out more!

Sandra Bamborough & Hazel Ingrey