Resources for Teaching: Module reading

A guide for academics on library resources to help with teaching

Overview

This page includes information on:

         Options for making key readings available to your class

         Passing reading info on to the Library: when, what and how

         Online Reading Lists

         Digitised readings

         Short Loan

         Library contact details		      Student reading

Options for module reading

The Library can provide access to high-demand material in several ways:

  • Print books: In the Main Library and St Mary's Library required/recommended readings can be placed on short loan (4-hour loan), 3-day loan or 7-day loan.
    In the J F Allen Library key books can be placed on temporary reference for use in the library only.
     
  • e-books: The Library can check if e-book versions of key readings are available for purchase.
     
  • Digitised readings: Single chapters/articles from printed works can be scanned and made available via your module's Online Reading List (subject to restrictions).

Ensuring reading materials are available for your module

Deadline

Due to the amount of work involved in putting module reading in place, we ask that you pass on details to the Library as early as possible.

For Semester 2 2018-19 modules:

  • If you contact us by Revision Week (3rd-9th December 2018) with information about short loan, online reading lists, etc, we would expect to be able to process your requests in time for the start of semester.
     
  • If you contact us after that, we may need to prioritise how we deal with requests - this will depend on criteria such as class size, priority of items, week required, and length of list. While we'll do our best to deal with requests quickly we won’t be able to guarantee that everything will be in place for the start of semester.

 

 Deadline

Ways to pass on module reading requirements

(1) Send a copy of your module booklet reading list to readinglists@st-andrews.ac.uk marked up as appropriate (see Details to specify below).

(2) Create or edit your own Online Reading List (details on this are below). A 'Note to library' feature allows you to add instructions for individual readings, e.g. "Please place 1 copy on short loan", "Please order 3 additional copies". Requesting a review for your list will then pass these instructions on to the Library. Online Reading Lists are also used to place requests for new digitisations.

(3) e-mail us with the details if you have a short list of readings or if there are just a small number of adjustments to make to your existing reading list.
 

Details to specify

Books to go on short loan – please state number of copies.

Books to be ordered – unless you prefer to place orders via your School's Library rep/Dawsonenter, please indicate any order requests by annotating your module booklet or online reading list (specifying edition, no. of copies, print or e-book, Main Library/St Mary’s Library/J F Allen Library). Alternatively, contact your Academic Liaison librarian with details (see Contacts below).

Extracts to be digitised – scans of chapters and articles in printed works can be made available via the Library's Online Reading Lists system.

  • Digitised readings are subject to strict copyright conditions and they should only be used in particular circumstances – see Scanned readings: what can be digitised?
  • If you have used scans of chapters/articles for your module in the past, these need to be rolled over each year – they will not be available to your class unless you inform us directly that you wish to re-use them
  • It would help us prioritize workload if you could indicate which week of semester scans will be required for.


Online Reading Lists to be updated – you can search for an online list for your module here. Contact us at readinglists@st-andrews.ac.uk for any of the following:

  • If you would like to be given editing rights to make changes yourself
  • If you just need us to make a small number of changes e-mail us with the details
  • If you have more extensive changes send us your updated module reading list as an e-mail attachment 
  • If no changes are required please let us know so your list can be rolled over to the new academic year.

Online Reading Lists

The Library’s Online Reading Lists service offers a dynamic alternative to module booklet reading lists, allowing students to view availability of books and connect directly to electronic resources with a single click. They are instantly updateable and provide usage statistics via a graphical interface.

The Library can set up an online reading list for your module, or provide instruction to allow you to set up your own list or to edit an existing list. To request this please contact us at readinglists@st-andrews.ac.uk

There's an online guide to creating and editing lists at http://libguides.st-andrews.ac.uk/ReadingLists including a short how-to video covering the main processes.

If your module already has an online reading list, please let us know if you would like it to be rolled over for next semester and if there are any changes to be made to it (e.g., readings to be added/removed, week order to be changed). Or, if you want to update a previous year's list yourself, see our guide on rolling over lists.

Online Reading Lists are used as the platform for digitised readings (i.e. scanned chapters/articles from print works). Academics can use the system to place requests for new digitisations.

Scanned readings: what can be digitised?

Copyright restrictions

It is a strict requirement of the University’s copyright licence that digitised chapters and articles comply fully with a specific set of regulations governing scanning. Library staff are happy to check copyright compliance for any items you indicate you wish to have scanned, but there's a handy online compliance checking tool where you can enter a book's title or ISBN if you want to check this yourself.

The main points of the copyright licence related to scanning are as follows:

Extract length: a maximum of

  • one complete chapter from a book
  • or one article per issue from a print journal
  • or one poem or short story (max. 10 pages) from an anthology
  • or 10% of the total work. [More details]

Library holdings: the University Library must hold at least one print copy of the work a scanned extract is taken from. In some cases it may be possible to obtain permission from the copyright holder to reproduce an extract from a work.

Publisher restrictions: while most UK-published works may be scanned, some categories and works are excluded from the terms of the copright licence. Arrangements for other countries vary, but in general regulations governing scanning are more restrictive. Information on restricted works and regulations regarding overseas territories can be found here.

Uploading: scanned readings must be made available via the online reading lists system - you should NOT upload scans to MMS or Moodle yourself. Readings uploaded to online reading lists are checked for copyright compliance and have a copyright coversheet attached.

  
 

 

What should go on short loan?

Books, individual volumes of print journals, and DVDs can all be made available on short loan. Students will be able to borrow them for 4 hours at a time, or for overnight loan.

Because we are keen to keep the short loan collection relevant to student needs, module teachers are asked to ensure the material they request to go on short loan is

likely to be in high demand (if it would help you gauge this, we can provide loan figures for each module last time it ran)

not available electronically (if an e-book version of a work is available we can purchase this in preference to placing print copies on short loan)

primarily key readings – it is not our expectation that all readings for a module will be placed on short loan, only required readings for tutorials, assignments etc., and those texts that students will need to consult on a regular basis throughout the semester

up-to-date – we’d like to replace old editions with newer ones (these can be purchased if needed).

 Short loan books

Creating an effective reading list

This set of best practice guidelines for creating reading lists have been drawn up by Library staff and the University's Learning and Teaching Committee. They cover areas such as terminology, what (and what not) to include on a list, and things you can do to enable students to make better use of their reading list.

Contacts

Contact us about module reading at readinglists@st-andrews.ac.uk – please remember to include details specified above (e.g. no. of copies of books to go on short loan).
 

Or you may wish to contact your Academic Liaison librarian (advice for new members of teaching staff, queries about new modules, book order requests, etc):