When you’re creating a reading list, the first thing you need to do is access your module site in the VLE and locate the reading list link on the main dashboard on the VLE. Underneath the reading list link, it should say that it is visible to students.

If the list is not visible to students then:

You will need to click on the drop down menu under the reading lists title, that says ‘Hidden from students’ and change it to ‘Visible to students’. Your students will then be able to access the reading list.

If you cannot see a reading list link at all on the main VLE page, you will need to add the reading list tool link to your VLE page.To do this:

• You will need to go to the left hand side menu on your module VLE page and navigate down to the ‘Books & Tools’ section and then click on the ‘view course & institution tools’ link, which you will find directly underneath the ‘Books & Tools’ section.
• Once you have clicked this, a menu will appear on the right hand side of the page, you will simply need to click on the plus (+) sign next to the Reading lists box.

Once you have done this, it will appear at the bottom of the VLE page. You will then need to drag the reading list box to where you would like the reading list link to sit.

To drag it, you simply need to hover over the reading list box and 6 dots will appear on the left hand side of that box. You will need to click on those dots and drag the box around to where you want it.

When you have dragged the reading list link to where you would like it, you just need to change the status from ‘Hidden from students’ to ‘visible to students’.

Then you can click into the reading list link and then begin creating your reading list.

If you don't have a module site in the VLE please get in touch with the VLE team who can get it set up for you. There may also be a colleague in your department with responsibility for setting up VLE module sites each year.

No, brand new lists are in draft mode and you will need to select publish to make them visible to students.

If you have sent us the list via the online submission form then we will make it published once we have finished working on it.

When you create a new list you will be asked to put in a title, a description (if necessary) and a place to link your reading list to your VLE module.

 

If you don’t know the course code or information yet, then you can continue to create your list without linking it to the course. When you do find out the course information you can link it to your module later on by clicking the link to course button next to the title of your reading list. A tab will open up on the right and you can then enter the course details. 

 

You can also remove the module association or associate your list with a different module by clicking the list options icon (⋯) on the top of the reading list. Then you will need to click on ‘manage link to course’ this opens up the same tab as above and you can delete the course by clicking the bin icon and then follow the steps above to associate the list to another course. 
 

 

There will be a bar at the top of your screen, just under the title of your reading list, the bar will say 'Your list hasn’t been sent to the library and isn’t visible to students'. Click on ‘My list is ready’ to see the next steps.’ Once you click on ‘My list is ready’ a box will pop up with a tick box saying ‘Also publish the list to students’. You will need to tick this before you continue and then before you click to send button you need to make sure that ‘Module students’ is selected under the title ‘Publish to:’
 

You can do this from within YorSearch or the Reading Lists system.

From YorSearch:

• Having found the item details in YorSearch, click on 'Reading List' in the 'Send To' options, and follow the instructions.

From Reading Lists:

• Click on the + Add icon in the top-right corner of your list
• Click Search the library from the drop-down. A search bar will appear on the right hand side which enables you to search the YorSearch catalogue.
• Try to add as many details as you can to the search box e.g. title, author surname or year of publication

 

More information about using YorSearch can be found on our YorSearch help pages. If the library has different editions in stock, then these can be viewed and added by clicking Additional versions available. Select the item you want. You can then add it to a list (you can select which section from the drop down menu) or add it to your bag, which allows you to save a number of references and then add them to a section of the list.

Cite It! is a bookmarklet tool, and is the easiest way to add items from the web to your list. To install the bookmarklet tool:

• Click on 'settings' (the cog icon) in the top right corner of the Reading Lists screen and select Cite It!

• Follow the instructions to drag and drop the Cite It! bookmarklet into your bookmarks/favourites bar

• You'll then see it appear in your bookmarks bar

Note: For user authentication purposes, Cite It! works best when you also have the Reading Lists system open in another browser tab.

You can use the Cite It! bookmarklet to add items to your lists whilst browsing the web, including items that are not in the Library catalogue that you'd like to recommend for purchase. For example, if you search for books via a publisher's site or Amazon, or if you are searching for articles on Web of Science or JSTOR.

• When you are on the item details or article abstract page, click the Cite It! bookmarklet to open the 'Add this to my list' box
• If the item is already in the Library catalogue then there will be a green flag with the message 'Covered by your library'
• We recommend that you review the item information for accuracy and make any changes to the details if needed.
• Select a list and section from the drop-down menu and click 'Add It' to import the item details to your list. You can also add items to your Collection from here.

Note: Cite It! may only copy full item details from supported sites. A current list of supported sites can be viewed by going into Reading Lists, clicking on your name in the top right corner, and selecting Cite It!.

You can only do this in individual sections of the list. Your references will need to be in an RIS file format.

• Click on the’+ Add’ button in the left hand corner under the title of the reading list.

• Select Import, then from file and then upload your RIS file.

Your citations will be imported into the selected section. It's worth spending a couple of minutes checking the references and making sure that the information is correctly formatted.

Yes you can, by hiding the Reading List from the students' view. The best way to do this is to publish the list, then hide the Reading List link in the module's VLE site. To do this, in the VLE module, next to the 'Reading Lists' link on the main page of your VLE, click on the little arrow next to where it says ‘visible to Students’ and select the ‘Hidden from students’ button to hide it from students. Module instructors can still see this link so they can access the Reading List for making edits when they need the Library to scan something, or to order a book, for example.

When you click on the full details of an item, look for the Related Items tab and alternate versions (ebook or physical) will appear here if they are available. If the other editions don't appear, add a library discussion note with your preference and we will add it for you.

If you have any questions about Kortext, contact your Faculty Librarians.

We would suggest caution before including YouTube content in your VLE area or in Reading Lists. Amongst other reasons are the issues of firewalls in some countries, for example in China, making access to this content difficult for some students outside the U.K.

The Library provides access to Box of Broadcasts, which offers an extensive archive and allows you to record and embed programmes from over 65 channels. It is not, however, available to users outside the UK.

Whilst we cannot validate them, there are some free sites which provide test url services which you can consider using e.g. greatfire.org

Yes you can. Click on the ‘share item’ button which is next to the three dots on the item you want to link to. Once you have done this then click on 'Copy shareable link to item'. Note that only students who can access the list will be able to access the item on the link.

To tag an item, click on the title of the item you want to add a tag to and it will expand, then navigate to the area that says ‘Add tag’ and select the required tag from the drop down menu.

   

If the title is not already in stock then a member of the Reading Lists team will be in touch to find out if it is Essential, Recommended or Background.

We will not automatically purchase background items unless they are requested by students through our purchase suggestion form.

They will remain in the new list. You can edit them in the new list if you need to make any changes e.g. switch items from essential to recommended.

Use the ‘+ Add’ button at the top left hand corner of the reading list and then scroll down to the ‘New section’ button. You will need to add a title to the section and there is also room to add a description if you wish. You can also select where you would like the section to go on the reading list. Then click on create.

You can hover over the section you want to move and six grey dots will appear on the left-hand side which can be used to click and drag.

From the My Lists page you can duplicate your existing lists by clicking on the options icon (⋯) and then select Duplicate list.

 

This will create a copy of the list (in draft status) which can be assigned to another module if required.

Yes, you can hide sections and display them only for a specific time period. Click on on the options (⋯) menu within the section in question and select 'Edit section'. Enter the dates you want the section to be available, and make sure the 'Section visible only during these dates' checkboxs ticked. Remember to save the changes.

Yes, depending on what you want to hide. Where an item has both physical and electronic availability, to manage which type of material the students can see, click to open the full citation for an item and click the ‘Hide’ button to hide the physical copy of the book, or manage which electronic versions are visible by hovering over the "View online" link and click the ‘Hide link’ button. When you click the ‘hide/hide link’ button, an eye icon with a line through it should appear; this means it is no longer visible to the students. 

To remove an entire citation from view you either need to delete it completely, or click on "Save as favourite" from the three dots next to the citation title. The citation can be retrieved later by going into the Favourites tab on the left hand side.

You can also reorder items in all sections of your list alphabetically by title or author. This cannot be undone. Click on the Reading list options menu (...) at the top of the Reading List.. Select 'Sort items within sections' and choose which re-ordering option you wish to use. Note that it will apply to all sections of the list.

 

 

To delete an item from your list, click on the options menu (⋯) on the right-hand side of the item and then select 'Delete item'.

Note: You can do the same with list sections, but all items within the section will also be deleted.

The default order in which students see multiple reading lists for one module is alphabetical, so if the lists are titled by week number, for example, they will appear in the correct order for students.

To change the order that the lists appear for your own view when you are working in the system, click on the sort options at the top of the list, where it says 'My lists on top' and choose one of the options.

If you only have a couple of short lists associated with your module you may wish to merge them yourself:

• Create a new list - this will become the one main list for your module
• Work through your separate lists one a time and copy over the lists section by section into the new list. You can do this by clicking on the three dots next to each section heading and choosing 'Copy section', and then choosing which list to copy it into. You can change the section heading at the same time as copying it over.
• You might find it easier to copy everything into the new list first, and then go into the new list to amend section headings, move sections and items around, etc.
• Remember to delete your old separate lists when you have finished copying them into the new list.
• Once you're happy with the new list you will need to associate it with the relevant VLE module.

If you have a large number of lists we can merge them into one for you. Please get in touch with lib-readinglists@york.ac.uk for help with this.

There are two options available:

• Editor - can edit the list, but cannot delete the list or add other collaborators.

• Owner - can add other collaborators to the list, edit and delete items, or delete the entire list.

To add collaborators:

• You need to click the ‘List info’ button at the top of the reading list.

• This will open a tab up on the right hand side of the screen. 

• Navigate to the Collaborators section on that tab . 

• Then click on the Manage collaborators button which has a cog icon next to it.

• A box should appear listing all the current collaborators on the list. 

• You can add collaborators by selecting the ‘+ Add collaborators’ button and searching for the name or user name of the person you are adding and click on the correct person to add them.

Any reading list manager can lock a reading list to prevent it from being edited by other collaborators. To lock the list, select Lock in the reading list menu and click OK.

A locked list cannot be edited by anyone, except for library staff or the list manager. All options for editing the list disappear from the action menus, and items cannot be rearranged.

The following actions can be performed on a locked list:

• Add or edit the private note to a citation
• Like or mark a citation as read
• Add a comment to the citation
• Copy the citation to My Collection
• Export or print the reading list, section, or citation
• Copy the permalink of the reading list, section, or citation

Only the person who locked the list (not the other managers), or library staff, can unlock the list.

Other list editors should be able to give you editing rights. You can also email lib-readinglists@york.ac.uk with the information about which lists you need access to and we will sort that for you.

• You need to click the ‘List info’ button at the top of the reading list.

• This will open a tab up on the right hand side of the screen. 

• Navigate to the Collaborators section on that tab . 

• Then click on the Manage collaborators button which has a cog icon next to it.

• A box should appear listing all the current collaborators on the list. 

• Next to your name there should be a bin icon. Click this and it will remove you from the list and then click save. 

Reading Lists is an interactive system that allows you to build lists for students, and to manage, edit and update them all in one place. Reading Lists is available via the VLE and it allows students to click straight through to the YorSearch record, journal article, e-book, or other material.

Reading Lists also enables the Library to quickly and easily check lists and make sure that items are available for students. It is also the way to let us know what reading to provide for a student with a print-impairment.

"Favourites" is your personal area on the Reading Lists system to store references. We recommend using your Favourites to gather together items from the Library catalogue or the web to use in your lists.

• Click on Favourites on the left hand menu to view saved items. These will display in order of date added, but can be searched and sorted by title or author.

• Click on the + (Add Items) to search the Library catalogue for items to save in your Collection. You can also add items to your Collection from Cite It! by selecting Collection (instead of choosing one of your lists) and clicking Add It.

• You can also create your own tags for items in your Collection, which you can use for filtering or searching. Please note that these tags are private to you, and will not be displayed when items are moved into a reading list.

• Click on the item to view details, availability, or to add a Private note. Click on the item options menu (⋯) to add the citation to a list or to Delete from collection.

• When you are editing a list, you can add items from your Favourites by clicking the ‘+ Add’ and then navigate to ‘Add from Favourites’. This opens your list of items in a pane on the right hand side of the screen, which you can sort or search accordingly. You can click and drag items from here directly into your list.

 

Click on the Reading list options menu (...) in the top of your list and select 'View list as a student'.

When you are finished, click on 'Back to instructor mode' on the banner at top of the Reading List screen to return to your normal view.

Note: There is a separate student preview mode in the VLE which doesn't work for Reading Lists; you need to use Reading Lists' own preview option.

If you see an 'Illegal Institution' message, it likely involves your browser not storing third-party cookies. We apologise for any inconvenience caused by this. Please look at our troubleshooting instructions to help solve this issue.

Yes. Click on the Reading Lists option menu (...) in Lists or from within a list, then select 'Export'.

Several file formats are available:

• 'To Word' exports the list in .doc format and offers users a choice of bibliographic styles
• 'To PDF' exports the list in .pdf format
• 'To Excel' exports the list in .xls format
• 'To RIS file' exports the list in .ris format, which can be imported to another list or reference manager software (see Adding items from your reference manager).
• 'To .lgn file' is for users who wish to recreate their Leganto lists at another institution

You can also print lists from the Reading List options menu.

EARL was the previous reading lists system used at York until 2017. Library staff still have access to the last 10 years of EARL lists - if you would like us to move an old list into the new system then please contact lib-readinglists@york.ac.uk with as much information as possible e.g. module title and code.

If you are joining the University from an institution that uses the same Reading Lists software as York (Ex Libris Leganto) then it is possible to migrate lists using the .lgn format:

• Download your original list by selecting the menu button and then export in the .lgn file format
• In the York Reading List system, select New List and choose the Import option below the description box
• Upload your .lgn file

It is also useful to think about if there are any tags you need to add and if you want to make use of things like the Digitisation Service.

Old lists will still be attached to last year’s module but you won’t be able to edit them anymore. This means that they will still be available for anyone with access to the module which is in line with the VLE module archiving policy.

We have access to the last 10 years of lists, including lists that were in EARL. If you are expecting to see something and it isn't there, please contact lib-readinglists@york.ac.uk with as much information as possible e.g. module title and module code or the VLE code.

The Library's Reading List Policy aims to improve access to materials on your reading lists for students, and to simplify processes for academic staff.

The key factors which contribute to a positive student experience are:

• Reading list quality and consistency
• Student understanding of what is required of them
• Readings available when students need them
• Readings accessible to all students on a module

Reading lists are most helpful to students if they are:

• Realistic: so that students can access everything on their list there must be sufficient copies of items and appropriate loan periods, and resources should be available in digital form wherever possible
• Accurate: so that students can find the correct resource, including correct editions
• Prioritised: so that students understand what they are expected to read and the Library understands what it needs to provide
• Clear: so that students understand which resources are relevant to which parts of the module
• Up-to-date: so that students are working with your latest information
• Timely: so that the Library has time to acquire and make available the required resources

Additionally, we have created some Reading List Guidelines, included below, which provide more information on the rationale and practical implementation of the Policy:

Reading Lists Policy

Reading Lists Guidelines

If you would like one-to-one training on how to use Reading Lists, contact the reading lists team via lib-readinglists@york.ac.uk.

If you would like a departmental workshop, get in touch with your Faculty Librarians who will arrange this with you.

Click Add tags to item and choose Digitisation Request from the list of tags. Note that this tag will not be visible to students and will be removed by the Library when the request is complete.

You can edit the citation details to specify Type: Book chapter. This will provide additional fields for the chapter name, number, author and page range.

You can provide extra information regarding your request using the Library Discussion box in the right hand panel:

Further information about digitisation is provided on the Digitisation page.

The Library will monitor the number of loans, requests and bookings for items added to lists. We may purchase additional e-books or physical copies if demand is sufficient, or if items are tagged Essential.

Your Faculty Librarians can provide advice on the most effective actions to ensure students can access resources that are in high demand.

We understand that sometimes you aren’t able to give us much notice. Where possible, please structure your reading list by week so that we can prioritise any new purchases or digitisation requests. We aim to make digitised reading available one week in advance of teaching and we will do our best to try and ensure this. If your reading list isn’t structured by week you could use a Library Discussion note to let us know when the item will be needed.

Take a look at our Copyright Guide to see if your questions are answered there. If not, contact your Faculty Librarians.

If your department uses Canvas, Moodle or some other VLE the best thing to do is contact your e-learning support or departmental administrative team in the first instance.

You can view accessibility options in Reading Lists by clicking on your initials or profile picture in the top-right corner, then select Accessibility Menu. From here you can adjust the font size and site contrast to improve list visibility.

Click Add tags to item and choose Digitisation Request from the list of tags. Note that this tag will not be visible to students and will be removed by the Library when the request is complete.

 

You can edit the citation details to specify Type: Book chapter. This will provide additional fields for the chapter name, number, author and page range.

You can provide extra information regarding your request using the Library Discussion box in the right hand panel:

 Accessibility Menu" alt="User Menu > Library discussion feature">

Further information about digitisation is provided on the digitisation section of this guide.

No, as long as you have included all your request information in the citation details and applied the Digitisation Request tag then there's no need to contact the Library separately about your request.

Students may require their reading to be digitised or provided in an alternative format which works with their preferred assistive software. If you are aware of a student taking your module with such requirements then you can use the Alternative Format Request (SSP) tag to request items for them. The Library will then send files to the student directly in their preferred format. More information about this is available on our Reading Lists accessibility page.

The Library will deal with any copyright issues; the usual extent limits do not generally apply as we can digitise an entire book for print-impaired students.

Please see accessibility information page for more information about our services for students and staff with a disability.

Not all ebook formats are fully-accessible for all types of assistive software, so we need to check that the file is in an appropriate format. More information is available on our Accessibility page.

Rollover normally follows the VLE rollover in the summer vacation. We will advertise specific dates nearer the time.

We automatically rollover any list that has run in the current academic year and that is set to 'published'. If your list falls outside of these criteria e.g. module only runs every two years, then get in touch to let us know about your list and we will ensure it is rolled-over for the next academic year.

The exception to this are HYMS reading lists which do not rollover.

No. If we’ve digitised items for you they will remain available in your new list for students to use.

They will remain in the new list. You can edit them in the new list if you need to make any changes e.g. switch items from essential to recommended.

No, this won't be copied over into the new list.