Did you know that you can utilise other resources types to enrich the metadata on your online reading list ?

Talis (the reading list software provider) have enabled four new resource types : Database, Newspaper, Object and Report. Here is how you can use them –

Bookmark the item as usual, and if you need to change the resource type, click on the drop down under resource type –

Resource type drop down arrow

Once you click the drop down arrow, you can then see the new options :

New Talis resource types

Select the resource type you want, and continue to bookmark as usual.

In addition to the new resource types, there are also 6 new additional metadata fields which you can add to bookmarks. These are:

• Format
• Number
• Identifier
• Series
• Location
• Court

Additional fields options

If you feel there is a resource type or additional field that you would like added as options, please let us know and we will raise this with Talis.

The new Bookmarking Extension Button for Chrome has been released ! The current one will stop being supported at the end of this year, so Talis have provided an updated version. This will replace the current Extension bookmarking button, and will improve the bookmarking experience including bookmarking from Youtube !.

It’s  easy to install, and on most home machines you will probably see that it is already sitting neatly where your previous button was located on Chrome.

The new icon is now a bright green circle with a T in the middle.

New Bookmarking Extension button

However, if you cannot find the bookmarking extension on Chrome follow the steps below:

• Select the Jigsaw icon on the Extension toolbar
• Click on the “Pin” icon next to Talis Aspire Reading Lists to “pin” it to your browser
• You should now be able to see the “T” icon

Chrome Bookmarking Extension with pin

Versions for other browsers will be released over the coming days and we will let you know when these are available.

Does your Moodle course contain PDF or Word document readings that may not be accessible, or links that don’t work off-campus?  Have you taken over a module and need help tidying documents into a reading list? Good news:  Teaching and Learning Services (TLS)  can help!

Teaching and Learning Services in the library manages both ReadingLists@UCL and the UCL copyright licences.  Given access to Moodle, or a list of readings, they can undertake a one-off project to re-create your reading list in ReadingLists@UCL and update your links and documents to be both copyright compliant and more accessible.

Owl postcard for readinglists@ucl

We will give you editing access and offer orientation training so that you or a colleague can take over managing your list once set up.

Contact readinglists@ucl.ac.uk and ask for a ‘Moodle Health Check’. Please note: we are very busy around the start of Terms 1 and 2 but we will let you know a timeline that accommodates our existing workload.

Owl postcard for readinglists@ucl

Each summer the reading lists have a new copy made for the new academic year, much like the Moodle snapshot. This year, we will rollover on the evening of Tuesday 16^th July from about 5pm.

Reading lists for 2023-24 will have an exact copy made for 2024-25, which will publish immediately.

• The old version (2023-24) will archive, which means it will disappear from public view but can be found and re-used in future years if needed.
• Students will still 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 2024-2025 will be unaffected by the rollover.

Please note

• Unpublished changes will not copy forward into the new list: please publish your lists before 5pm on the 16^th July if you wish your updates to be carried forward, or we can do this for you. Just email us, details are below.
• We suggest you stop editing reading lists before 5pm on 16^th July, and continue editing when you can see it has the 2024-25 date stamp – certainly from the next morning Wednesday 17th July 2024, if not sooner.
• The Moodle ‘Library resources’ block needs no maintenance and will continue to link to the most recent year’s list.   If you have been using the new LTI.3 reading list integration tool, you should not be required to re-link items. However, do get in touch if you experience any problems.
• To have old courses archived, new lists set up, or current module names amended, email us your requests!

If you are aware of students who may need access to the 2023-24 version of the lists, they can do any of the following :

• take a copy of the list by using the ‘View & Export’ button – before 5pm on 16th July
• save the URL of the list, which will continue to work even after the list is archived
• let us know that it needs to be revived if it has already been archived, and we will make it available for the student

Support

Do you need a refresher on how to edit and manage your lists?  The ReadingLists@UCL webpages  and Libguides have online quick guides including short videos, and FAQs. The TLS team offer refresher training via Teams or face-to-face

Get in touch and you could walk away with a new list set up and ready to go, linked via the Library Resources block in Moodle !

If the answer is yes, then why don’t you take a look at the new LTI 1.3 (launched last summer) !  As rollover for Moodle courses has now begun, new embedded links will have to be created for 2024-2025 Moodle courses using the new LTI 1.3.

However, you will still be able to view your reading list and embedded sections from the old LTI on current Moodle courses and any previous ones, but as the old LTI has now been retired,  you cannot now use it for embedding links.

The new LTI is available from the Moodle palette as seen below.

Screenshot of Moodle palette showing the new LTI.1.3 integration tool

The new LTI offers the same features as the old one, but has a slightly different took and feel. We have plenty of information regarding the new LTI on our Teaching and Learning Services web pages, which includes some PDFs and videos on how to install the integration tool.

You also might like to read our previous blog from last year on the new LTI.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at readinglists@ucl or if you have a query about Moodle in general, please contact the Digital Education Team.

Using the Explore catalogue to find reading lists

Teaching and Learning services (TLS) are regularly making reading list information available via the Explore catalogue. This means you can search the catalogue by module code and/or module title for your favourite reading list !

Only published reading lists or lists with unpublished changes (not blank lists) will be made available on a monthly basis.

To help you find your lists, here is a short video that shows you how you can filter to reading lists via the Explore catalogue.

Don’t worry you can still find lists at the usual home page for reading lists or via your Moodle course.

If you have any problems accessing reading lists via Explore, please do not hesitate to contact – readinglists@ucl.ac.uk

No doubt you have read the updates, blogs and twitter, Yes Moodle has changed !

Moodle 4 is a revamped user interface and experience, and we are assured that it provides a more modern and significantly cleaner user experience for the user, with updated technology, design, navigation and layout.

What does this mean for reading lists you may ask yourself ?   Luckily nothing too significant, although the layout for the Library Resources block, and the embedding (LTI) tool is slightly different on the new upgrade.

The familiar Library Resources block is hidden in a drawer ! To reveal the block, open the drawer. We have further instructions on our Teaching and Learning webpages  that explain how to add the block (if not already added), and how to configure the block. 

The popular embedding tool has now been updated to LTI.1.3 and is available from the  “Add an activity or resource” palette.

Full details of how to use both the Library Resources block and the embed tool are available from our Teaching and Learning webpages, and videos will also soon be available.

For more information on the upgrade and training available please see an earlier blog from the the Digital Education Team. 

There is also further information on the UCL Moodle staff guide

If you experience any problems using the above features,  please do not hesitate to contact  readinglists@ucl.ac.uk

The rollover is complete! All your 2022-23 reading lists have been archived and a copy created for 2023-24, 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 get in touchor see our Getting Started

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

“Books HD” by Abee5 is licensed under CC BY 2.0

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 the TLS team) also copy forward.  There is a separate, behind-the-scenes process in July/August where the readings are re-checked automatically for the coming year. If your module is not running let us know so we can archive the digitised readings, ready for another year.

If any digitised readings were not digitised under the CLA licence, but instead had direct copyright permission granted then the links to these readings will temporarily break.  TLS need to re-request copyright permission for the coming year and re-instate the links to the digital reading.  This is a task that TLS does annually and they will be in touch if your readings are affected.

What if I or my students need access to the 22/23 version of the list?

If you ever need to refer back to your 2022/23 list for any reason please let us know. We can recover it from the archive if necessary.

Request Review

Please do request a review of your reading list once you have updated your list for the next academic period. Please drop us a line for more details.

Where can I find further support?

General advice and guidance on reading lists can be found on the ReadingLists@UCL Libguide.

If you have any questions about the rollover process, or have any questions on anything to do with reading lists at UCL, please drop us a line.

We also offer informal in-person sessions (either over Teams or in person), where you can refresh your knowledge of any aspect of ReadingLists@UCL with an expert member of the TLS team. Interested? Send us an email and we’ll arrange a session.

If you want to set up a new reading list please complete this webform and we’ll set it up for you.

Each year, the online reading lists for all modules rollover so that a new version for the next academic year can be made available.

The reading list rollover on the evening of the 13th July means that the 2022-23 reading lists will archive.  From 14^th July the lists available to view will be the new lists for academic year 2023-24;  these are available to update immediately for the new session.

If you are aware of students who may need access to the 2022-23 version of the lists, they can do any of the following :

• take a copy of the list by using the ‘View & Export’ button – before 5pm on 13th July
• 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.

Each summer the reading lists have a new copy made for the new academic year, much like the Moodle snapshot. This year, we will rollover on the evening of Thursday 13^th July 2023 from about 5pm.

Reading lists for 2022-23 will have an exact copy made for 2023-24, which will publish immediately.

• The old version (2022-23) will archive, which means it will disappear from public view but can be found and re-used in future years if needed.
• Students will still 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 2023-2024 will be unaffected by the rollover.

Please Note

• Unpublished changes will not copy forward into the new list: please publish your lists before 5pm 13^th July if you wish your updates to be carried forward, or we can do this for you. Just email us, details are below.
• We suggest you stop editing reading lists before 5pm on 13^th July, and continue editing when you can see it has the 2023-24 date stamp – certainly from the next morning Friday 14^th July 2023, if not sooner.
• The Moodle ‘Library resources’ block needs no maintenance and will continue to link to the most recent year’s list. The optional integration ‘Reading list items’ requires checking and possibly some re-linking of resources, particularly after the reading list has been updated for the new year.
• To have old courses archived, new lists set up, or current module names amended, email us your requests!
• If you are aware of students who may need access to the 2022-23 version of their lists, please see advice here on Accessing your old Reading List .

Support

Do you need a refresher on how to edit and manage your lists?  The ReadingLists@UCL webpages  and Libguides have online quick guides including short videos, and FAQs. The TLS team offer refresher training via Teams or face-to-face.  Get in touch and you could walk away with a new list set up and ready to go, linked via the Library Resources block in Moodle !

Would you like a review of your reading list ?  If yes, then “Request Review” after you have finished adding all your items to your list, and TLS will give your list a health check.