The Library is now accepting requests for new resource lists at any point in the year!

We’ll still have our annual deadlines to make sure your resource lists are ready in time for the start of each new semester, but now, to enable academics to send us lists whenever it’s convenient, we’ll create your resources lists (using Talis Aspire) at any time of year.

What information do we need?

For each resource list, we need:

• a completed Resource List coversheet;
• an annotated reading list or handbook with:
  • resources marked as ‘Essential’, ‘Recommended’ or ‘Further reading’;
  • any e-reserve requests highlighted;
  • any requests for specific editions, formats (print or electronic) or for additional copies if sufficient copies will not be provided using the default ratios.

What will the Library do?

We’ll create your resource list and, if the list is prioritised, process any e-reserve and course reserve requests. We’ll also make book recommendations based on the published ratios or on your notes provided. When the list is ready, we’ll hand it over to you for day-to-day management.

Send your lists to the Library

For more information, and to download the coversheet, visit the IS website: Resource Lists created by Library

When you’ve completed the coversheet and annotated your list, send them to Library.Learning@ed.ac.uk

And, as usual, if you have any questions about resource lists, please get in touch.

This week, we’ve changed our reviews process, from automatically triggering a review every time you publish your list, to offering the option to have your list reviewed instead.

Why have we changed the process?

We hope that this will reduce the number of emails you receive from the Resource Lists service and lead to more focused attention on your list when you need it.

How do I request a review?

If you would like the Library to review your list, you can choose the option ‘Request review’; you will also be reminded that you have this option every time you publish your list.

There’s a short video showing how you can request a review here:

Requesting a review and publishing (video)

When should I request a review?

If you change the number of students on your course; request new acquisitions or ereserve in the ‘notes for library’ function; need your list to be linked to the hierarchy so you can add it to LEARN; or add new resources, we recommend sending your list for review to us. And if it’s a brand new list, we recommend selecting the ‘Review list’ option so we can give the list the once-over.

What will we do?

When we receive your review request, we will check prioritised items to see if the library holds enough copies and process any book recommendations for additional or new copies; check the ‘notes for library’ function; forward details of ‘Essential’ items to HUB; check links; and check the list is added to the hierarchy.

If you have any questions about reviews, please send us an email: library.learning@ed.ac.uk

The Library will be notified when you request a review of your list. When we receive your review request, we will:

• use expected student numbers and the priorities assigned to each item to check if sufficient numbers of copies are held, and, if necessary, process book recommendations for new or additional copies;
• check for ‘Notes for library’ added to your list and pass any requests for new or additional copies or ereserve scans to the relevant team;
• forward details of ‘Essential’ items to HUB and reserve teams;
• check the links on your Resource List;
• check the list is correctly linked to the course hierarchy (enabling you to add your Resource List to LEARN).

In addition, when the list is newly-created by the Course Organiser, the Library review will:

• check items on the Resource List against existing Library holdings;
• review the structure of your Resource List.

When we’ve finished the review:

• We will send the Course Organiser a summary of actions taken. This includes details of current library holdings, any book recommendations made or any changes to broken links.
• If the Resource List hasn’t already been published, the Course Organiser should publish the Resource List when ready.
• Course Organisers will be notified when any new acquisitions arrive and are expected to add any new acquisitions to their Resource List themselves.
• Course Organisers may be contacted by other Library teams for clarification on ereserve requests or updates on book recommendations made.

If you have any questions about reviews, please email us at library.learning@ed.ac.uk

This week, we’ll be explaining more about the new review process on our blog – keep an eye out for more updates.

If you’ve been publishing your lists in the past couple of months, you’ll have noticed that this automatically triggers a ‘review’, sending an email to the Library Learning Services team to check your list. Sometimes, this can result in a spiral of automatically-generated review-related emails cluttering your inbox.

As the semester is now well underway, and the deadline for requesting new books through Resource Lists @ Edinburgh has passed, we’ve decided to switch this automatic review process off.

Manually request a review

You can still request a review of your list by selecting the ‘Review’ button on your list and choosing the option ‘Review List’. Each time you publish your Resource List, you will also be reminded that you have the option of requesting a review.

Both options will result in the Library being notified: we’ll check your lists and act on any ‘notes to library’ that you may have added.

Hopefully, this will result in fewer automated emails sent to you about reviews and more focused attention on your list, when you want it.

If you have any feedback on the review process, send us an email at: library.learning@ed.ac.uk

Course Organisers, the book and ebook requests made as a part of resource lists service have been arriving over the past few weeks.

You should have received notification from the Library letting you know that a new title, additional copy or ebook has arrived.

Please don’t forget to add new (e)books to your resource lists for your students to find and use.

Good news: if additional copies of a book on your resource list have arrived, you don’t have to do anything (provided the new copies are the same edition).

New acquisitions

If it’s a new acquisition, the (e)book will need to be added to your resource list. If you would like to do this, find the book on DiscoverEd and use the bookmarklet button in your browser toolbar to add the new (e)book to the list.

If not, we’re currently working our way through the list of new acquisitions and adding new items to your resource lists, so you can expect to hear from us in due course.

It’s a long list!

We’d encourage you to add the new titles yourself: remember to publish your resource list to make the changes live.

It’s really easy to add a new bookmark to your list; our how-to guide can be found on the Resource Lists website:

• Adding a bookmark
• Resource Lists website

If you have any questions about adding new (e)books to a resource list, please get in touch.

Sarah Ames, Library Learning Services Assistant

The final figures are in, and we now have statistical proof that it has been a busy year for the Library Learning Services Team – and Resource Lists @ Edinburgh users.

The total number of published resource lists, at last count, was 490, with 20 schools represented; Literatures, Languages and Cultures tops the list as the School with the most lists, followed closely by History, Classics and Archaeology and Moray House School of Education.

Top 5 Resource Lists

We’ve looked at Google Analytics to find out number of page views and total clicks on individual list items, and after some mathematical magic our top 5 most-used resource lists from last semester comes out as follows:

1. Sociology 1A (The Sociological Imagination: Individuals and Society)
2. American History 2 (Semester 1: Tutorial reading lists)
3. History of Art 1A (Art at the Crossroads of World Cultures)
4. Politics in a Changing World
5. Social Anthropology 1A

It’s been a pretty close race, however, and a lot of lists have a healthy number of views. The top 10 lists all have over 200 students enrolled – so it comes as no surprise that these lists are some of most viewed.

Using the Dashboard to monitor use of your list

If you’d like to take a look at the numbers for your course, have a look at the Dashboard. On each list, you’ll see a green button, next to ‘Table of Contents’, which will take you to the figures.

Here, you can see the number of page views, total clicks and number of clicks on each item on the list, as well as how many annotations students are making and suggested improvements for your entries.

If you have any feedback about what students think about Resource Lists, or if you’d like to see the Google Analytics figures relating to your list, we’d love to hear from you: email learning.services@ed.ac.uk

Sarah Ames, Library Learning Services Assistant

The acquisitions emails have been rolling in, so if you required any new books or ebooks for your course, please remember to update your lists.

When your book recommendation arrives, you’ll receive an email from the Acquisitions Team. Please make sure you add these new titles to your resource lists.

In most cases, a temporary placeholder bookmark will have been added to your list, and this will need replacing with a new bookmark linking to the item in DiscoverEd.

Find out how to create bookmarks on our website: How to create and add a bookmark

If the new book or ebook is an additional copy added to existing copies held by the library, there is no need to update your list: the resource list will already point to the current copies.

Any questions, email: library.learning@ed.ac.uk

Sarah Ames, Library Learning Services Assistant