Reading Lists @ UCL

On this page we highlight key benefits of ReadingLists@UCL for module leaders and their students.

1. Intuitive, academic led system

• Simple editing interface allows you to arrange your readings to suit your module (e.g. by week, or thematically), add notes for your students, invite colleagues to edit your list if you’re team teaching, and build a ‘library’ of bookmarks that can be re-used in any of your lists. 

2. Easy to integrate with Moodle

• Make a stable link to your whole list using the 'Library Resources' block in Moodle. Go further to embed sections of your reading list into relevant parts of your Moodle course, by week or theme. (See guidance on how to integrate with Moodle).

3. Ensure your students have access to essential resources

• Adding all the required or essential readings to your online reading lists ensures that the Library will make these available for your students. This will be in digital format wherever possible. Using the Library Note function means you can also ask for specific chapters to be digitised or for multiple copies of print books.

4. Link to online resources and copyright compliant content

• Provide stable links to e-journals, e-books and multimedia resources available through the Library, to students both on and off campus. Request digitisation or copyright clearance for an article or book chapter, to ensure copyright compliance. 

5. See how your lists are being used

• Use the analytics feature in ReadingLists@UCL to view student engagement with readings in your list. 

Improve metrics

• Ensure that when an article/title/source is being used by your students, such as through their views and downloads, that these contribute to the metrics being measured and counted by database platforms.

Ensure students are accessing content directly via our subscription resources

• If students access readings via our subscription resources, such as ejournals and databases, rather than via pdfs, it will increase usage statistics, which we review when deciding whether to maintain a subscription for future years.

Export and download a list

• Use the save and export features to download a list as a PDF file, or as a bibliography in a required referencing style (note: this can only be done when you are logged out of ReadingLists@UCL).

Help students in developing their academic research and practice

• By accessing resources via reading lists, students are taken into the specific context or environment in which a source is located, such as an article database, or the library's Explore discovery tool, helping them to understand where sources are found and familiarise themselves with tools they will be using for their own research.

1. Consistent, easy to use access to resources

• Predictable delivery of required resources using an intuitive software saves students time.

2. Access reading lists prior to arrival at UCL

• New students can see their list before arriving at UCL (note: access to library resources is available once students have obtained a UCL userID and password).

3. Easier access to e-materials and digitised readings

• ReadingLists@UCL will automatically set up authentication for off-campus UCL users, so students have easier access to resources wherever they are. 

4. Connect to library catalogue for print materials

• Students can check if an item is on the shelf, place a request if it’s not available, or search for alternative editions. 

5. Note taking and referencing features

• Students can log-in, make notes on their readings, see clearly labelled bibliographic citations, arrange a list to preferred citation style and export it in different formats.