This Saturday 21st February Hazel and I took the ReadingLists@UCL advocacy campaign

into the student heartland of the UCLU Education Conference, held this year at the Institute of Child Health.

Our stall gave us the opportunity showcase the highlights and benefits of the online reading lists in a very visual manner that appealed to the attendees.

We showed students that online reading lists allowed them to view readings in different citation styles, or export the citations to Endnote, Reference Manager, Zotero etc. for use in their work; they could sort the resources on their list by ‘type’ or ‘importance’, for example to group all essential readings together.  In essence, they could make the list their own by adding private notes and a reading status for each item.

Many of the students were unaware of the online reading lists and when shown the benefits were very impressed and determined to ask their lecturers why their courses did not have one!   Some students actually discovered they did have a reading list – only they hadn’t been shown how to access it, and were delighted to find they could do so seamlessly from Moodle, as long as the course tutor or administrator had remembered to switch on the Library Resources block.

The Student Academic Representatives, or StARS as they are better known, were particularly impressed. They will be taking back the message that online reading lists are an essential part of the student learning experience at UCL and need to be more widely adopted by departments across UCL.

We reminded the students that ReadingLists@UCL are best for:

• Revising from home
• Clear guidance on essential / recommended readings
• Distance learning courses
• Many full text readings so no need to visit the library…
• …but also, live links to the library catalogue to see if books are on the shelf right now! If not, just click through to reserve books
• Making your own notes on each reading
• Consistency across programmes

For information and FAQs for students, visit www.ucl.ac.uk/library/teaching-support/reading-lists/student

• No list set up? Your course tutor or departmental administrator can request an online reading list, if appropriate for your course
• Ask your Subject or Site Librarian for help
• Email: readinglists@ucl.ac.uk

Many UCL courses have an online reading list to guide you in your study. Reading lists are a tailored list of resources which may include links to full text readings, library books or TV clips, which you can access online anywhere, any time.

ReadingLists@UCL are created by your teachers to suit your department’s teaching, so each will be different. Your reading list might contain week by week readings to read in preparation for class, for example with key texts which link out to full-text e-journal readings, or e-books. Where books are in the library, you will see links to the library catalogue (Explore) so you can instantly check whether the book is on the shelf and place a reservation if it is on loan. A resource list could also give guidance for your own research or self-guided learning.

Other resources include digitised book chapters, links to TV or radio programmes, and specialist databases, all of which you have access to because you are at UCL. There may also be notes to guide you, or tags to show which resources are essential reading. You can sort the list by importance, add your own notes, or export the readings into a different citation format.

Access the reading lists for your courses directly through Moodle via a link in the ‘Library resources’ block, or search the ReadingLists@UCL homepage by module code or title, or by your lecturer’s name if they have made this available. You can also browse by department or search Explore, the library catalogue. Not all courses will have a list, and it is your department or tutor who will decide whether to create one.

You can find more information on the student information webpage for reading lists!

UCL Library’s webpages have migrated and launched on Thursday 4th September.

As a result the address for many of our web pages has changed, so please remember to check and update your bookmarks.

For searching for, and accessing, your reading lists, the address remains the same: http://readinglists.ucl.ac.uk

Similarly the web address for Explore does not change. Explore is the library catalogue and resources page from which you can bookmark journals, books and ebooks to add to your reading list.

Here are some key addresses which have changed – the new ones are on the right in blue:

Most often, students find a reading list via their Moodle course, where they simply click on the reading list they need from the Library Resources block.  This block contains a link called ‘Reading list for…’ which links to the reading list with the same course code.

How do you set this up for them?  First request a reading list to be set up using the online form.  In Moodle, turn on the Library Resources block and it will automatically link to the reading list with the same course code.

Students can also access their reading list by searching:

• ReadingLists@UCL using course code or title, or even the academic’s name if this has been added
• the library catalogue Explore

Once students have found their online reading lists they can view them in different ways.

• Use the ‘View bibliography’ button to produce a list of all the readings in alphabetical order, which can be printed (click ‘Export’ then ‘Export to PDF’)…
• … use one of the drop-down boxes to select different citation styles. If a key citation style is missing, use the green ‘Feedback’ button to request another.
• The reading list can be printed out in its existing layout (sign in, select ‘Export’ and then ‘Export to PDF’)
• either of the above options can also be emailed to oneself, to save a copy.
• The ‘Export’ button enables exporting references in different formats: we will cover this in another post, and on our webpage guides.

If you have questions about any of this, please don’t hesitate to get in touch!

Once a student has registered and started at UCL they will be able to access the reading lists for their courses on Moodle, through the Library Resources block.

The good news is they don’t need to wait until then: if you have created an online reading list for your course, even if more resources will be added in readiness for the new term, your students will be able to access this online now. Students can search by module code or title, or drill down through the hierarchy till they find their course, then click on their list.

They can see which readings are essential, or suggested for student purchase, so they can read or buy these before they arrive at UCL. Some links may take them to subscribed resources hidden behind a log-in page (e.g. an electronic version of a book or journal article, or TV programme) which they won’t be able to access until they have registered at UCL.

One department is already making use of this for their students by including details in their welcome letter. This is a great taster for their courses and the keen and enterprising student can get ahead with their reading.

For those thinking of coming to UCL in the future, our reading lists offer a fantastic shop window of what we have to offer those students who choose to learn with us.

Students can find more information on the reading list student page.

Just what do students really think about those reading lists you prepare for their courses using ReadingLists@UCL?  These are some of the positive comments we captured in feedback in early June from a straw poll of undergraduate and postgraduate students:

Find out how to set up a reading list  or email us