Category Archives: Research & Learning Services

Action required: Update your bookmark tool

Talis Aspire have launched an updated bookmark tool that will work with both HTTP and HTTPS websites.

Background

In reaction to a number of security issues that occurred last year, many websites have slowly been changing from a HTTP address to a HTTPS address. Moving websites to a HTTPS address increases security by adding a ‘secure certificate’ to the site.

However, the addition of this secure certificate has been clashing with the Talis Aspire bookmark tool and may have been preventing it from working on some of the sites that you regularly use. (The bookmark tool is the button that appears on your browser bookmarks bar which is used for adding resources to lists).

What do I have to do?

When Talis Aspire detects that it is being used on a HTTPS website a pop-up window will let you know that a newer version of the bookmarklet is available and provide instructions on how to install it. Please install the newer version of the bookmark tool when prompted.

The current bookmarklet will still work on HTTP websites; however, we would recommend you update the bookmarklet tool. Talis Aspire have made it even easier to do this.

Adding or updating the bookmarklet tool is a quick process. Go to http://resourcelists.ed.ac.uk/ and then to the ‘My bookmarks’ tab. On the right of the page is an ‘install bookmark button’, click on this and Talis Aspire will detect which browser you’re using and walk you through adding the bookmark tool.

More information on how to make the most of Resource Lists can be found on the Resource Lists using Talis Aspire webpage and the ResourceLists@Edinburgh Blog.

Follow @ResourceListsEd

Stephanie Farley

Library Learning Services Assistant

What makes a good Resource List?

The content is important, but what about the style and structure? What about length? Can a list be too long? Or too short? In what ways can a resource list interact and engage with students?

A great feature of Resource Lists @ Edinburgh is the flexibility. We have lists created by academics across the University across a wide variety of schools and subjects, each using resource lists in their own specific way.

CertAVP Equine Dentistry by Sharon Boyd at the Royal Dick Veterinary School

Sharon’s list contains just seven items and provides clear instructions on reading expectations for the class. It also advises where to go find additional abstracts and sources. The Vet Schools’ ‘Instructions for using this Reading List’ is extremely useful and has been adapted by Library Learning Services and is used on many of the lists we create for course organisers.

The sources of knowledge: Understanding and analysing research literature by Dr Peter Allison at the School of Education

Featured as one of our ‘Great Lists’ last year, this continues to be an excellent list. What initially caught our attention was Peter’s note at the top of the list encouraging students to contact the course organiser with any materials that may be particularly useful in particular web pages or YouTube clips. These have been collected towards the bottom of the list in the section ‘Useful Websites’ and, by the number of resources in this section, it looks to have been quite successful in promoting self-study and engagement with students.

Peter also uses the list to encourage skill learning. In ‘Session One’ a resource link is provided to the University Library Catalogue and then in the notes students are directed to search for and locate a specific article. Details are also provided on where to find additional guidance via the information skills module in Learn.

Social History 2.2 The Making of the Modern Body – History, Classics, and Archaeology

History reading lists tend to be quite large as the format of their lists are to provide a wide range of options from which students are encouraged to self select and prioritise.

To help make this large volume of reading options easier to navigate, Social History 2.2 has been split into three separate lists. One for Lecture and Tutorial readings (226 items), one for the Essay Title readings (141), and one for the Group Project readings (62 items).

If you would like to create a resource list but are unsure how to best format a list for your course please get in touch, we’re more than happy to sit down with you and come up with a solution together.

More information on how to make the most of Resource Lists can be found on the Resource Lists using Talis Aspire webpage and the ResourceLists@Edinburgh Blog.

Follow @ResourceListsEd

Stephanie Farley

Library Learning Services Assistant

How to use Resource Lists @ Edinburgh – A guide for students

We now have around 300 published resource lists for courses across the university and as this number steadily grows so too does the number of students now accessing readings and resources via Resource Lists @ Edinburgh.

To provide more information about the service and the many ways it can benefit students we have included an ‘Information for students’ section on our website and created a short guide with some hints, tips and tricks on how to get the most out of this service.

The new page is now live on the Resource Lists @ Edinburgh using Talis Aspire website and includes a link to the Resource Lists @ Edinburgh using Talis Aspire: A Guide for Students (PDF).

Please feel free to point students towards either the webpage or the pdf document. Both can easily be found by linking directly or by using the search function on the University website.

More information on how to make the most of Resource Lists can be found on the Resource Lists using Talis Aspire webpage and the ResourceLists@Edinburgh Blog.

Follow @ResourceListsEd

Stephanie Farley

Library Learning Services Assistant

Resource Lists cut-off date for Semester One

Following our recent email asking you to send us your resource lists, we have had a fantastic response from course organisers.

As we have a two week turnaround on creating resource lists using Talis Aspire and our interns are only with us until 5th September, we are imposing a cut of date of 25thAugust.

*If you are considering asking the Library to create your resource lists, please send them to library.learning@ed.ac.uk by 5pm on Monday 25th August*

Any lists received after 25th August will be added to our queue and best efforts will be made to ensure they are ready for 15th September, however, no guarantees can be given.

Please remember that creating resource lists yourself is quick and easy to do.

Email library.learning@ed.ac.uk to register as a List Creator on Talis Aspire.

A series of short user guides, including a guide on Getting Started, is provided on the Information Services website.

More information on how to make the most of Resource Lists can be found on the Resource Lists using Talis Aspire webpage and the ResourceLists@Edinburgh Blog.

Follow @ResourceListsEd

Stephanie Farley

Library Learning Services Assistant

Send us your reading lists

Our two Resource Lists interns, Katrin and Gemma, are doing a fantastic job and are speeding through the reading lists we have asked to transfer onto resourcelists.ed.ac.uk

This means we need more lists!

Whether you have started creating your own lists and would like help with additional lists, or if you have been interested in Resource Lists but not yet had the time to create one yourself, now is the perfect time to send us your lists.

Having Katrin and Gemma available to enter reading list information into Resource Lists @ Edinburgh is a fantastic resource for staff to utilise and is only available for the next four weeks, so do please do make use of this opportunity.

This service also includes providing a summary of the items on your list, books, journals and articles, with information on how many are held and at what locations. This means you can see in advance where additional materials might need to be ordered or moved into reserved/short loan sections of the library.

If you would like to send us your reading list there are a few important pieces of information that will help us provide you with the best possible service:

Required information for Resource List creation (PDF)

More information on how to make the most of Resource Lists can be found on the Resource Lists using Talis Aspire webpage and the ResourceLists@Edinburgh Blog.

Follow @ResourceListsEd

Stephanie Farley

Library Learning Services Assistant

Managing and publishing your Resource List

Library Learning Services and our interns have been working hard to transfer your reading lists on to Resource Lists @ Edinburgh. But once this process is complete and the lists have been handed over to you, what’s next?

To help you manage and publish your new resource lists we have created a short user guide including information and links to further guidance on:

Viewing, navigating and editing your list.
E-Reserve Bookmarks
Linking to the hierarchy
Publishing and promoting your list

How to manage and publish your Resource List (PDF)

Important: We are still accepting lists! If you have a reading list that you would like us to transfer onto resourcelists.ed.ac.uk please let us know.

This service also includes providing a summary of the items on your list, with information on how many are held and at what locations. This means you can see in advance where additional materials might need to be ordered or moved into reserved/short loan sections of the library.

If you would like to send us your reading list there are a few important pieces of information that will help us provide you with the best possible service:

Required information for Resource List creation (PDF)

More information on how to make the most of Resource Lists can be found on the Resource Lists using Talis Aspire webpage and the ResourceLists@Edinburgh Blog.

Follow @ResourceListsEd

Stephanie Farley

Library Learning Services Assistant

Resource Lists @ Edinburgh has integrated with Learn and Moodle!

We are very pleased to announce that Resource Lists @ Edinburgh is now integrated with both Learn and Moodle!

Important: Your resource lists MUST be linked to the hierarchy. If this has not been done then the VLE (Virtual Learning Environment) will not be able to locate your lists.

The hierarchy is a virtual representation of the organisational structure at Edinburgh and is taken from the Degree Regulations and Programmes of Study (DRPS). For more information on the hierarchy and linking your lists we have created a step-by-step guide: Linking to the hierarchy (PDF).

Learn

There are three options when using the Resource Lists tool within Learn.

a) You can create a menu item for Resource Lists so that the link is always available to your students from anywhere in the course.

b) You can add the Resource List tool to your course module page. Any lists linked to the hierarchy for your module will display in Learn.

c) You can add the Resource List tool at any point in the course content and any lists linked to the hierarchy for your module will display with the Resource Lists icon as shown below.

A) Menu item, B) Module page

C) Course content

Moodle

In Moodle a block for Resource Lists is added the same way any other block is added, by clicking on the drop down menu in ‘Add a block’ and selecting the ‘Resource Lists’ block.

The block can then be moved to a suitable location within your Moodle page. Any resource lists that have been linked to the hierarchy for this particular module will be recognised, displayed and linked to from the block.

More information and help on using Moodle blocks can be found in Moodle by clicking on:

Home –> Hints & Tips –> Staff Help –> Moodle How To

More information on how to make the most of Resource Lists can be found on the Resource Lists using Talis Aspire webpage and the ResourceLists@Edinburgh Blog.

Follow @ResourceListsEd

Stephanie Farley

Library Learning Services Assistant

Linking to the hierarchy and why it is important

Once a list has been published on Resource Lists @ Edinburgh it is ESSENTIAL that the list is then linked to the hierarchy.

What is the hierarchy?

The hierarchy is a virtual representation of the organisational structure at Edinburgh. The hierarchy is taken from the Degree Regulations and Programmes of Study (DRPS). So course names and codes should accurately reflect current modules on offer.

We have just uploaded the DRPS for the 2014/15 academic year so your course/module should be active and ready to link to your resource list.

Please contact your Academic Support Librarian or the IS Helpline if your course is not listed and we will add it asap.

It is ESSENTIAL to link your list to the Talis Aspire hierarchy:

To allow students to browse to find their resource lists.
In order to allow integration with the VLE (i.e. Learn & Moodle).
To make sure lists are available in subsequent years.
To generate stable URLs for resource lists which you can then use to promote lists to students.

To assist with this process we have created a step-by-step guide on Linking to the hierarchy (PDF). If you have any questions or require assistance please don’t hesitate to contact us at Library.Learning@ed.ac.uk

Additional guides and information can be found on the Resource Lists using Talis Aspire webpage and the ResourceLists@Edinburgh Blog.

We are also running a ‘Hands-on’ introductory session to Resource Lists @ Edinburgh this Wednesday 30th July. Sessions are bookable via MyEd or contact us directly.

Follow @ResourceListsEd
//

Stephanie Farley

Library Learning Services Assistant

Interns on board to create your Resource List!

We are very happy to announce the appointment of Katrin and Gemma who will be interning with us over the next six weeks to create resource lists for the College of Humanities and Social Science.

We would also like to thank Louise and Christabel who have been interning for the School of History, Classics & Archaeology(HCA) for the past eight weeks. They put in a terrific effort and along with their other tasks created a whopping seventeen resource lists for HCA. Well done!

If you have a reading list that you would like to see transformed into an interactive online reading list at resourcelists.ed.ac.uk we can do this for you!

If you would like to send us your reading list there are a few important pieces of information that will help us provide you with the best possible service:

Required information for Resource List creation (PDF)

If you are interested in learning more about resource lists, places are still available for our ‘Hands-on’ introductory session to Resource Lists @ Edinburgh this Wednesday 30th July. Sessions are bookable via MyEd.

Before you attend

When you register for the session, you will be sent an email inviting you to register to use Talis Aspire. Please follow the link in the email to accept the invitation. This will give you access to the Resource List system.

If you can’t make this session

If you are interested in Resource Lists @ Edinburgh but can’t attend this session, please get in touch. We are happy to arrange alternative training sessions for individuals or small groups.

More information is available on the Resource Lists using Talis Aspire webpage and the ResourceLists@Edinburgh Blog.

Follow @ResourceListsEd
//

Stephanie Farley

Library Learning Services Assistant

Preparing for the new academic year – how we can help

As you enjoy the summer sunshine we at Library Learning Services would just like to remind you of some of the ways we are available to help lecturers and course organisers prepare resource lists for the new academic year.

Did you know that Library Learning Services are able to take your existing Reading List and turn it into a Resource List for you?

If you have a reading list that you would like to see transformed into an interactive online reading list at resourcelists.ed.ac.uk we can do this for you!

Simply send us your list, and the earlier the better.

If you would like to send us your reading list there are a few important pieces of information that will help us provide you with the best possible service:

Required information for Resource List creation (PDF)

If you prefer to create your own resource list we have guides and example lists to help!

Creating a resource list is a fairly simple process

Contact the IS Helpline to request access (IS.Helpline@ed.ac.uk).
Accept the email invitation to register as a List Creator.
Install the bookmarklet tool to your browser. This is a quick and simple process and you only need to do it once.

We have created a detailed user guide to help you get started and a series of shorter guides that focus in on specific tasks within Resource Lists. The guides are available on our Resource Lists @ Edinburgh using Talis Aspire webpage and also on our blog User Guides page.

Example lists are provided for you at Resource Lists – Library Guides on the use of sections, notes, fields, and general good practice to demonstrate the variety of resources and formats available. Note: if you haven’t done so already, you will be prompted to log in to EASE.

Prefer assistance that is more hands-on? Try one of our hands-on sessions this July.

The sessions are designed to introduce a new users to Resource Lists, to become familiar with the system and feel confident creating and editing lists. All sessions are bookable via MyEd.

The sessions are open to all Course Organisers, Programme Directors, College/School IT staff or Admin staff and Library staff who may create lists on behalf of others.

Dates/Times/Venue

Tue 22^nd July 2014: 10am-12noon, Main Library, George Square, Training Rm 1.12

Wed 30^th July 2014: 2-4pm, Main Library, George Square, Training Rm 1.08

Before you attend

If you can’t make these dates

If you are interested in Resource Lists @ Edinburgh but can’t attend on these dates, please get in touch. We are happy to arrange alternative training sessions for individuals or small groups.

More information is available on the Resource Lists using Talis Aspire webpage and the ResourceLists@Edinburgh Blog.

Follow @ResourceListsEd
//

Stephanie Farley

Library Learning Services Assistant

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: