A librarian asks: which books are not in the library?

We were recently asked by a librarian if there was any way to see which books on a reading list did not link out to the book in the library catalogue, Explore?  Librarians check through newly updated reading lists to ensure books and other resources have been purchased, where possible.  Once purchased, librarians can also update the reading list to link to the available book or journal.

 

To answer the librarian: there is a way to check this!  You can ‘export’ a reading list into a spreadsheet (CSV) format.

Sort by ‘Type’ to view all ‘Books’ and if the ‘Local Control Number’ field is blank there is no link to Explore. Either UCL doesn’t hold the resource, or the academic didn’t make a link to it.

This can also be useful for those librarians who are updating lists, or who have inherited one and want to check whether you need to link any items to the catalogue to make them more readily accessible for students.

Of course, you can also ask our team to do the checking for you, by publishing the reading list and clicking on the ‘Request review’ button. TLSS will check through and link to books or journals where possible, or update unstable links to e-books or e-journal articles.