Online Reading Lists: a guide for Academic Staff

You will need to activate your online Reading Lists account in order to edit, publish and share your online Reading List. We recommend completing the short profile page with some basic information, as this will be accessible to students.

How to activate your account

1. Go to the online Reading Lists homepage and click 'Log in' in the black navigation bar.
2. Sign into your University of Reading account using your normal Microsoft login details.

The online Reading Lists system will recognise your role and assign list editing permissions. You should now be able to search for a list by title or module code from the homepage, or via the 'Online Reading Lists' link embedded in your Blackboard course. If you cannot search for a list, edit a list, or find a list, please contact your Academic Liaison Librarian.

Creating a profile

1. Once logged in, click on your name in the black navigation bar, and select 'View Profile'.
2. Click 'Edit Profile' in the top right corner:
   1. Select an option from the ‘I’d describe myself as’ list, and your ‘Main discipline’. 
   2. Please set your profile to ‘public’ so existing and prospective students can search for lists created by you. Only your name and role will be displayed on any published lists. 
3. Click on Save Profile once you’ve completed the form. 

Once you have activated your account, you can search for a list by title or module code using the online Reading Lists homepage.

Please be aware that each year, copies of online reading lists are created as part of the rollover process, and so each academic year you will need to review and edit a new version of your online reading list. You should receive an email when this is ready to edit, but if you are unable to access the reading list for the current academic year, please contact your Academic Liaison Librarian.

If you need to create a list for a new module, or another use, please contact your Academic Liaison Librarian.

Save to 'My Lists'

To make it easier to access your online reading lists, you can save current lists to your 'My Lists' area in the online Reading Lists system.

1. Access your list and click the '+My Lists' button in the top right corner.
   
2. In future you can navigate to 'My Lists' in the top navigation bar and view your lists without searching.

Accessing your online reading list through Blackboard

1. Navigate to your Blackboard module and click on the 'Online Reading List (Talis)' link. 
2. The system will try to match your module to an existing list, and provide you with a search box if this matching is unsuccessful.
3. Click on 'embed list' to ensure that the list is linked to your module - for more help see section 5 of this guide.
4. Once you have done this, you can edit your list via the 'Online Reading List (Talis)' link in Blackboard

An online reading list can have multiple owners or editors, this can be useful if you are co-convening a module, or would like to share list editing with a colleague.

Sharing or changing ownership

When editing the list go to the 'Edit' menu and select 'Assign list owner':

Search for your colleague's name, select them and click 'Save with list publisher role'. 

You can also remove people by clicking on the 'Remove user' button on the right of their name.

Inviting others to edit a list

If there are other people collaborating on your list, but you don't want to make them additional owners of the list, you just copy the link from your browser window when you are editing the list and email it to your colleagues. They don't need to be owners to be able to edit the list.

If you are not sure, or if your colleague does not yet have an account in the online Reading Lists system, please contact your Academic Liaison Librarian.

Please contact your Academic Liaison Librarian if you would like a new list, for a new module or other purpose. They will ensure it is linked up with correct module which will bring through the time period and student numbers.

Once the list has been created it will be assigned to you and you will receive an automated email similar to the one shown below.

At this point the list will be in draft and unpublished and can only be viewed once logged in to the Online Reading Lists System (Talis). To view and edit it you will need to login to Talis. Once logged in you can then click on the direct link in the email, or just search for the module code once logged in to Talis. If you don't sign in before clicking the link you will see a 'Page not found' error message.