This guide provides training and support materials to help academic staff create, manage and enrich their Library Reading Lists.

Explore the topics below and get in touch with your Academic Liaison Librarian or chat to us on Library Talk if you'd like further help or have questions about Library Reading Lists.

This guide is a work in progress, and we welcome your feedback and contributions.

• Library Reading Lists is an online system that supports the creation, management and enrichment of your module reading materials.
• The interface is flexible and easy to use, enabling you to make changes and update your lists as often as you like.
• Library Reading Lists is an important part of the student learning experience.
• It enables consistent and equitable access to reading materials for students.
   

• Library Reading Lists are easy to build and manage.  You can keep track of them all in one place instead of updating copies of your reading lists in multiple places (such as Canvas, module guides and teaching materials), saving you time and avoiding duplication of effort.
• You can build, develop, and share reading lists while logged into your Canvas modules so that your students can consistently access all their module reading materials in one place and from any device.
• With direct links to online library subscription resources and open access materials and clear location details for print resources, students can easily access the material you are recommending.
• Having all your module reading on your Library Reading Lists also means that the Library knows what resources students are expected to read, and we can provide better access to those materials. 
• Library Reading Lists enables you to make requests for book chapters and journal articles to be digitised and uploaded to your list by the Library. Requests are checked for copyright clearance, ensuring your key reading materials are made available to students at the point of need and giving you the peace of mind that you are complying with copyright.
• You can see how well your lists are being used. Use the analytics feature in Library Reading Lists to view student engagement with readings in your list. 

It is your choice what you add and how you manage and enrich your Library Reading Lists, but here are some best-practice tips to get you started:

• Structure..  A well-structured list is easier for students to navigate and understand.  Use sections to organise your list to suit your teaching whether this is by week, topic or seminar. We also recommend arranging citations within each section, alphabetically by author.
• Priority.  Use tags to help students understand what they are expected to read, and the Library understand what we need to provide. Use the ‘Essential reading’ or ‘Additional reading’ tags for each citation.  Use the ‘ebook’ tag for all ebook and ebook chapter citations, so that students can quickly and easily filter their lists to just the readings they can access online. If you are adding open access books and journal articles to your lists, there’s an ‘Open Access’ tag for those too!
• Clarity. Help students understand which resources are relevant to which parts of your module. Notes provide clarity and help students to understand what is expected of them and guidance on what to read e.g. ‘Read pages 25-40 for a useful introduction to this topic’. 
• Appropriate.  Consider the overall length of your list and how many citations are in each section. Is the amount of essential reading for each week achievable for your students?  Depending on your module subject, consider adding a variety of resources to your reading lists. Library Reading Lists are for more than just books.  You can add links to specialist databases, academic journals and articles, podcasts, videos and much more!
• Up to date.  How often you update your Library Reading Lists is up to you, but we would recommend you check them for currency and relevance to the module learning objectives at least once per academic year. This ensures that students are working with your latest information.  The Library will add new editions of books and ebooks for titles on your lists at the point that they are added to the collection – unless you have asked us specifically not to.

There isn’t a one size fits all example of what a great reading list should be as all modules are different.
All Library Reading Lists should include a range of resources, indicate whether something is essential, or additional reading, and be structured in a way that makes the most sense for the module.

The advantage of Library Reading Lists is the flexibility it offers to fit the structure of your teaching.  Library Reading Lists has several features which can be used to transform a reading list from a list of books into a great teaching resource.
We've picked out Library Reading Lists from a variety of disciplines to give you some ideas for your own lists (log in to view) :