Online reading lists: a guide for students

Your online reading list is an interactive and dynamic list of recommended readings, with a single point of access to:

• reading lists which provide real-time information about books’ availability,
• our online resources,
• links to external web pages and embedded multimedia,
• scanned extracts of key readings requested by academic staff through the Library’s scanning service.    

Links to your reading lists are available via module content on Blackboard. If you are temporarily unable to access Blackboard, you can also access them directly from the Reading lists system:

Watch our video to see what you can do with your reading list. (This video is accompanied by narration and subtitles.)

The second video on this page shows you where you can find your list on Blackboard.

Your online reading list provides access to the recommended readings on your module - including availability in the Library, access to online resources and scans of recommended chapters. 

Access your reading lists by going to your module on Blackboard and then clicking on the 'Reading Lists' menu item on the left of the screen. Your reading list will then open up within Blackboard.

If you have more than one reading list for the module, separate links will be provided to these within the Reading Lists menu.

If you want to go back to the module 'home' page on Blackboard at any time, click on the module name at the top of the screen, above your reading list.

Watch our video to see how you can access your reading lists on Blackboard. (To enable closed captions, click on the CC icon at the bottom of the video.)

Here are a few tips to get you started:

• Click on the title of the item in your list to view further details about an item, where it is held in the Library, or to see if it is available. 

• Click 'View Online' to view e-books, online journal articles, and digitised chapters.

• You can sort your list by importance (e.g. ‘Recommended for student purchase’, ‘Essential’ reading, ‘Recommended’ reading etc.), whether it's available online or in print by clicking on the ‘View' filter at the top of the page. This might help you to manage your time and plan your reading more effectively.

You can use the Table of Contents button at the top left of the list to jump straight to a particular week's recommended reading. 

Use the box on the top right of your list to filter the list to items available in the Library or online; items that you have indicated you will read/haven't haven't read yet, by recommended importance set by your lecturer, or to those with personal notes attached. 

Once you have selected a filter, you will only see items in that category (an item could be in more than one category at once).

To clear a filter, scroll to the top and click 'Clear Filter'.

You can filter your list to search for a specific title or author. Use the box on the top right of your list to enter the author or the title you are looking for. The list will only display items with that title or author. You can clear a search by clicking 'Clear search' in the yellow box.