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Rollover complete!

By Hazel M Ingrey, on 19 July 2019

The rollover is complete! All your 2018-19 lists have been archived and a copy created for 2019-20, which you can edit straight away.

  • If modules are not running this year, please let us know so we can archive the list. This hides it from view to avoid confusion and also saves it for future re-use.
  • To set up new lists please get in touch or see our Getting Started advice.Image: review, edit, publish

Over the summer you can prepare your reading lists for the new academic year: you just need to review, edit and publish!

 

Do my digitised readings also roll forward?

When your new list is created, the digitised readings (digitised under the CLA licence and added to your list by TLS) also copy forward.  There is a separate, behind-the-scenes process in June where the readings are re-checked automatically for the coming year.  The only exceptions are a few readings which are not digitised under the CLA licence, but instead had direct copyright permission granted: the links to these readings will temporarily break until the permission is re-requested for the coming year.  This is a task that TLS does annually and they will be in touch if your readings are affected.

 

And finally don’t forget a new user interface is being introduced on 30th July.  See the Summer Update blog post for more, or view the walkthrough video to see how it will look.

 

 

Late Summer Assessments

By Hazel M Ingrey, on 27 June 2019

Some rights reserved CC BY-SA 2.0 https://www.flickr.com/photos/shinealight/2220267854/ ; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

‘Exams Start… Now’ by Ryan McGilchrist

Students involved in the Late Summer Assessments (19th August – 6th September 2019) may need to consult their reading list for revision.

The reading list rollover around 16th July means that the 2018-19 reading lists will archive.  From 17th July the lists available to view will be the new lists for academic year 2019-2020;  these are available to update immediately for the new session.

If you are aware of students who may need access to the 2018-19 lists:

  • students can now take a copy of the list by using the ‘Export’ button
  • or save the URL of the list, which will continue to work even after the list is archived
  • Or if a list has already archived, let us know that it needs to be revived, and we can do this.

The Exam papers archive remains all year round, and the papers can also be searched for via Explore, the library catalogue.

 

ReadingLists@UCL rollover

By Hazel M Ingrey, on 27 June 2019

Summer reading

Each summer the reading lists have a new copy made for the new academic year, much like the Moodle snapshot.  This year the rollover is scheduled for the evening of Tuesday 16th July 2019.  From about 5pm that day:

  • Reading lists for 2018-19 will have an exact copy made for 2019-20, which will publish immediately
  • The old version (2018-19) will archive, which means it will disappear from public view but can be found and re-used in future years if needed
  • Students will have continuous access to their reading lists: there is no down time for viewing lists
  • Editing rights remain constant, so list editors are able to edit the new lists as soon as they appear
  • Lists already set up as 2019-2020 will be unaffected by the rollover

 

Please note:

  • Unpublished changes will not copy forward into the new list: please publish your lists before 16th July if you wish your updates to be carried forward.
  • We suggest you stop editing reading lists before 5pm on 16th July, and continue editing when you can see it has the 2019-20 date stamp – certainly from the next morning Wednesday 17th July, if not sooner.
  • A note on students undertaking Late Summer Assessments, and accessing their 2018-19 list.
  • To have old courses archived, new lists set up, or current module names amended, please email us your requests!

 

Do you need a refresher on how to edit and manage your lists?  Drop in to our office in Senate House on Wednesday afternoons, 2.30 – 4.30pm for a quick session.  You could walk away with a new list set up and ready to go, get guidance on how to link to non-standard resources, or find out how to embed reading lists in Moodle.

The ReadingLists@UCL webpages also have guides, FAQs and contact details.

 

Summer news

By Hazel M Ingrey, on 7 June 2019

Over the summer there will be some changes to ReadingLists@UCL. We would like to make you aware of them, so you can plan to navigate them.

Hazel Ingrey. CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

Navigation marker, Margate

 

Rollover

The annual ReadingLists@UCL rollover will occur on the evening of Tuesday 16th July.  As in previous years, there will be no interruption to use of reading lists for students or academics.  We will post fuller information nearer the time, and subject liaison librarians will notify their departments.

 

New Look

A new user interface (UI) is being introduced this summer.  It has been developed in response to user feedback but, more importantly, it meets web Accessibility standards ensuring it is inclusive for all UCL users.  Making this change will ensure that ReadingLists@UCL are fully compliant with the 2018 UK Accessibility regulations.

For teaching staff the new list view is available in Beta now: email the ReadingLists@UCL team if you would like to use it ahead of its roll out. We will give you access so you can toggle between the Classic and Beta views.

There is a walkthrough video of the new look for student users – and anyone else who is curious to take a look!

 

New optional Moodle integration

The ‘Library Resources’ block is still an excellent, stable way to link from Moodle to an online reading list, and something we recommend so that students have a consistent experience across modules. (How do I add the Library Resources block into Moodle?).

Some teaching staff prefer the additional option of embedding readings from their list directly into the the body of Moodle and use the ‘Reading list items’ option.  A new LTI has been developed by the ReadingLists@UCL software owner (Talis) which embeds readings in Moodle in this way, whilst having better accuracy at maintaining the links after the annual rollover.  This integration will be implemented in collaboration with the Moodle team.  More on this later in the summer!

 

 

Drop-in for reading list help

By Hazel M Ingrey, on 4 September 2018

Changes to module codes and new Moodle have prompted quite a few questions this month.

If you would like a hand sorting through how this affects your reading list, or would just like a reminder on how to edit your list, then come to our Wednesday afternoon drop-ins which continue as usual in the TLS office.  Each Wednesday, Pam or Hazel will be available from 2.30 – 4.30 pm to:

This way!

  • Walk you through getting started
  • Set up a new reading list and add readings
  • Troubleshoot any issues, such as linking from Moodle to your reading list
  • Give a quick refresher if you haven’t used the lists in a while
  • Provide a quiet seat to get away from your email and telephone to organise your readings!

 

The TLS office is in UCL Senate House, room 318.  If you aren’t familiar with this UCL Library Hub, come to the South block, third floor and ask at the UCL reception desk; or call the TLS office on 020 3549 5729 (internal x65729).

If Wednesday doesn’t suit, or you would like to set your office computer up for working on reading lists, then we are very happy to visit you in your department: do get in touch to arrange a visit!

 

Library summer changes

By Hazel M Ingrey, on 28 August 2018

In addition to the Moodle and module code changes, UCL library also has some upgrades this summer.

As mentioned in an earlier post, a new Explore interface was soft-launched in autumn 2017.  On Monday 10th September 2018 this will become the only Explore search and the ‘Classic Explore’ will be retired.  The underlying library catalogue is also being migrated to newer software.

 

What does this mean for ReadingLists@UCL?

When bookmarking paper books and journals from the UCL catalogue, please continue to use the Classic Explore catalogue, which looks like this (click to enlarge):

ReadingLists@UCL can only interact with one catalogue interface, so until the 10th September the reading lists will continue to work optimally with Classic Explore. On the 10th September Classic Explore will be retired and ReadingLits@UCL will have its settings changed to work with the new Explore.

This does not affect e-resources: you can bookmark as usual from e-journals, e-books, TV and film resources, and more.

 

How will I know when to use the new Explore?

The new look Explore will become the only version of Explore on 10th September.  It looks like this:

 

 

 

 

 

Are there any other changes?

The SFX@UCL button found on some electronic resources will be re-named, as the underlying software has changed.  The new ‘FindIt@UCL’ button will work in the same way, leading you to the online resource.

As part of the migration there will be a circulation freeze from 5th-10th September.  This means the ‘Availability’ information on Explore might not be correct; this only affects physical books and journals that can be borrowed from the library.  Availability information is also shown in online reading lists so students and staff should be wary of this; you can ask your site library staff about book availability.

Reading lists can usually be found in the Explore catalogue, however as they are listed under their former module codes, and are in the process of having their module codes updated, the information is out of date.  We have decided to remove this information until all lists have a new module code, when we will add them back into the catalogue.

 

For more details on this Explore upgrade, including updates about outages, please see the UCL Library news webpage.

 

New Moodle and New Module codes: update

By Hazel M Ingrey, on 3 August 2018

 

New module codes

In June we gave an outline of how TLS planned to manage this change to the new module codes.  Since then, the reading lists have rolled forward and TLS have started updating the module codes, using information from the Academic Model Project team. You don’t need to let us know which modules you would like updating: we are doing all online reading lists.  If any lists don’t have a new code, we will get in touch with departments to ask if they would like them left or archived

New Moodle

Moodle has been upgraded this summer and the ‘New Moodle‘ is already available, with the updated 2018-19 module codes.  For integrating with reading lists, New Moodle works in the same way as Legacy Moodle: you just need to switch on the ‘Library Resources’ block to make a link to the reading list. There is a more detailed integration which we will update this autumn, to ensure better interaction between Moodle and reading lists: ISD staff need to complete their prioirty Moodle migration work before doing this.  ‘Legacy Moodle’ is also still available for reference and also Late Summer Assessments.

 

Two possible problems:

  1. Students undertaking re-sit exams may wish to re-visit their former reading lists, if they haven’t saved a version.  Legacy Moodle won’t link to the 2017-18 reading list as these are now archived.  Students can search all current ReadingLits@UCL lists by module name; or if the list has been updated already, we can retrieve the previous version from the archive.
  2. The Library Resources block also contains a link to past exam papers.  All exam papers are found under their old codes so this link will not work!  Students can search Exam Papers online by module title.  If you wish to hide the broken link for this year, use the settings of the ‘Library Resources’ block to configure the block.

 

What you can do now:

  • If you have saved URL links of 2017-18 reading lists, either for your own reference or in student handbooks, please update them before term starts
  • Review the contents of your reading list: edit it to update notes, dates and readings, then publish to make it available to students.
  • Check your Moodle module has a ‘Library Resources’ block, and the link to the reading lists works
  • If you would like editing access to a reading list, get in touch so we can enable that for you.

 

For help with editing and updating Moodle, head to New Moodle and select the ‘Staff Help’ tab for guidance, or use the ‘Contact Moodle Support’ option there.

For help with editing an online reading list, please get in touch with ReadingLists@UCL.

For sourcing new books, journals, films and more, contact your friendly subject liaison librarian!

 

 

Reading Lists rollover complete!

By Hazel M Ingrey, on 20 July 2018

The rollover is complete! All your 2017-18 lists have been archived and a copy created for 2018-19, which you can edit straight away. Thank you for your patience with the unexpected delay.

Over the next few weeks TLS will update the module codes on the new reading lists, in line with the Academic Model Project. Once this is done please double check that the link from Moodle is working as you wish: switch on the Library Resources block to make a direct link to the whole reading list. We will also create new guidance on how to link from Moodle to your reading list, including screenshots from the new Moodle.

 

So now to prepare your reading lists for the new academic year: you just need to review, edit and publish!

 

 

 

 

 

Reading Lists Rollover: update

By Hazel M Ingrey, on 19 July 2018

The rollover was requested to start on Tuesday 17th July, however you will have noticed the 2017-18 lists remain on display.

The Talis team identified an issue relating to student numbers so paused the rollover: they updated us on Wednesday 18th with the news that they are testing the fix they have created and will re-start the rollover when they are confident there are no issues.  So sorry for this delay!  You can contine to edit your 2017-18 lists as usual, but please publish your changes as you work, to make sure they are saved.

New 2018-19 reading lists do not roll over and can be used as usual.

 

Reading Lists Rollover

By Hazel M Ingrey, on 26 June 2018

Some rights reserved CC BY 2.0 https://www.flickr.com/photos/110342926@N07/12779910463/ ; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

‘Perfect Gwith Barrels’ by Philip Male

 

In TLS we are preparing for the annual ‘rollover’ of ReadingLists@UCL. This is our final task of the academic year: the CLA report of UCL’s digitised readings was sent in June, the majority of teaching has finished, and the exam period too is largely over.

 

Each summer the reading lists have a new copy made for the September term, much like the Moodle snapshot.  This year the rollover is scheduled for the evening of Tuesday 17th July 2018.  From about 5pm that day:

  • Reading lists for 2017-18 will have an exact copy made for 2018-19, which will publish immediately
  • The old version (2017-18) will archive, which means it will disappear from public view but can be found and re-used in future years if needed
  • Students will have continuous access to their reading lists: there is no down time for viewing lists
  • Editing rights remain constant, so list editors are able to edit the new lists as soon as they appear
  • Lists already set up as 2018-19 will be unaffected by the rollover

 

Please note:

  • Unpublished changes will not copy forward into the new list: please publish your lists before 17th July if you wish your updates to be carried forward.
  • We suggest you stop editing reading lists before 5pm on 17th July, and continue editing when you can see it has the 2018-19 date stamp – certainly from the morning of 18th July, if not sooner.
  • TLS are aware of the new module codes being introduced and will begin updating the reading list module codes from around 19th July.  More details in our blog post on this.
  • To have old courses archived, new lists set up, or current module names amended, please email us your requests!

 

Do you need a refresher on how to edit and manage your lists?  Drop in to our office in Senate House on Wednesday afternoons, 2.30 – 4.30pm for a quick session.  You could walk away with a new list set up and ready to go, get guidance on how to link to non-standard resources, or find out how to embed reading lists in Moodle.

The ReadingLists@UCL webpages also have guides, FAQs and contact details.