Skip to Main Content

Online Reading Lists: a guide for Academic Staff

A NEW guide for the updated Online Reading Lists support for academic staff.

Help and Support with online Reading Lists

If you have any questions about using online Reading Lists which are not covered in this guide, please contact your Academic Liaison Librarian.

1-1 training and support

You can make an appointment with your Academic Liaison Librarian to go over any aspect of using online Reading Lists. To set up a meeting, please contact your Academic Liaison Librarian.

1. Publish your list

Whenever you make any edits to your online reading list, visit your list, and click 'Publish'. You will be notified if there are unpublished changes on your reading list - Publishing your list will make any changes visible to your students, and notify the Library if new resources have been added to the list. New resources will be checked against current stock and online availability, and your Academic Liaison Librarian will contact you if there are any queries.

undefined

 

If you have added any new, essential items, please do contact your Academic Liaison Librarian with information on essential items.

2. Linking your online Reading List(s) to your Blackboard course

This year you will notice that the link to your online reading list in Blackboard has changed. This is due to an internal upgrade to improve the linking process. Your new link will not require updating each year, and should automatically be linked to your 2023/24 online Reading List.

You will now see a new item in your Blackboard module menu: 'Talis LTI 1.3'. This link has replaced the old menu item link, and will appear at the bottom of your Blackboard module menu. It should automatically link to your 2023/24 online reading list.

The TEL and DTS Teams are currently in the process of renaming all of the ‘Talis LTI 1.3’ links to ‘Reading List’ and expect this activity to continue over the next few days.  This work will also include moving the link from the bottom of the list on the left hand navigation and placing it under the ‘Learning Materials’ link.  

What if I have already renamed the link? 

We appreciate you may have already changed the name of this link to something clearer for students but to provide a consistent student experience the link will be amended to ‘Reading List’. 

What next? 

As we rename the links and move them under the ‘Learning Materials’ link in the navigation, you are not required to do anything. You can continue to use the link as needed.  

If you would like to link to more than one list, or a section of a list, please see use the tabs to find out more, or read our online guide below. Please contact your Academic Liaison Librarian with any other questions.

You can add links to one or more lists using the Content area option in the Course menu. 

  1. Log into Blackboard and navigate to your Course. Turn on Edit Mode.
     
  2. Click on the plus (+) sign above the menu, and select ‘Content Area’. Or navigate to an existing content area.
     
  3. In your Content Area, click on the ‘Build Content’ menu and select ‘Talis Aspire Reading Lists Deep Linking’. When you click on the link you will briefly see ‘We are launching the LTI tool’. You may need to log into the online Reading Lists system using your University username and password. The online Reading Lists system will try to match the course code with the title of an online Reading list.
     
  4. Find the list that you would like to add, and click the ‘Embed List’ button.
     
  5. Repeat if required to add multiple lists to a Content area. Each list will display as a separate link, and when a student clicks on an embedded link they will be able to view the full list within Blackboard.

When you click on the link you will see an option at the top of the page to change the embedded list. You do not need to click this unless you need to change the embedded list.

You can add links to a section of a list in any content area e.g. Weekly readings. Sections can be released week by week using the sharing options in Blackboard.

  1. Log into Blackboard and navigate to your Course. Turn on Edit Mode.
     
  2. Click on the plus (+) sign above the menu, and select ‘Content Area’. Or navigate to an existing content area.
     
  3. In your Content Area, click on the ‘Build Content’ menu and select ‘Talis Aspire Reading Lists Deep Linking’.
    When you click on the link you will briefly see ‘We are launching the LTI tool’. You may need to log into the online Reading Lists system using your University username and password. The online Reading Lists system will try to match the course code with the title of an online Reading list.
     
  4. Select the required section and choose the corresponding ‘Embed section’ button.
    You can use the ‘Preview’ button to view the section – this will open the reading list section in a new tab in your web browser.

The section will appear as a link in the Content Area. When students click on the link to the section, they will be taken to the section within Blackboard. When you click the link, you will be given the open to link to a different section.

Releasing sections week by week
  1. Once you have created a link to a section of an online Reading List in a Content Area, return to the content area and click on the grey dropdown arrow to the right of the section name.
  2. Select ‘Adaptive Release’.
  3. Tick the ‘Display After’ date and use the calendar options to select a date and time. Click ‘Submit’ at the bottom of the page to save.
  4. You will now see that the link is available, but has not yet been released. It will become visible to students on the date entered in the Adaptive Release options.

You should find that the new Talis LTI 1.3 link in your Course menu links automatically to your list. If you need to add a new link, you can use the Tool Link option in Blackboard to link to one reading list.

NB. If you need to link to multiple lists, you cannot use the Tool Link option, as this can only embed one list per Blackboard course. To link to multiple lists, please create a new Content Area and follow the instructions in the next tab.

  1. Log into Blackboard and navigate to your Course. Turn on Edit Mode.
     
  2. Click on the plus (+) sign above the menu, and select ‘Tool Link’
     
  3. Type ‘Reading List’ in the Name field, and select ‘Talis Aspire Reading Lists Resource Link’ from the dropdown menu under Type.
    If you would like the list to be visible to students, select ‘Available to Users’.
     
  4. Click on the new ‘Reading Lists’ link which appears at the bottom of the course menu.
    When you click on the link you will briefly see ‘We are launching the LTI tool’. You may need to log into the online Reading Lists system using your University username and password.
     
  5. Select the required list from the menu.
    The online Reading Lists system will try to match the course code with the title of an online Reading list.
     
  6. Find the list that you would like to add, and click the ‘Embed List’ button.

When a student clicks on the Reading Lists link on the course menu, they will see an embedded version of the online Reading List that you have selected. When you click on the link you will see an option at the top of the page to change the embedded list. You do not need to click this unless you need to change the embedded list.