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Reading Lists: a step-by-step guide for Academic Staff

The Reading Lists  - Manage and Edit service banner showing an owl.

If you manage your own lists online, you can easily add and edit items on your Reading Lists. Please do remember to tag your items as essential, recommended or background reading and to send your list to the Library for completion.

Structuring your list
 

You can structure your list using different headings, for example:

  • Essential, Recommended and Background (these will match the tags for each item).
  • Topic, e.g. Karl Marx, Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
  • Time period, e.g. Week One, Week Two.

If you need additional information on possible structures please consult our Reading List Guidelines. There are also templates based within the Reading List system which suggest different headings and layouts you may want to use. 

 
Adding headings
 

Within your reading list, you can click on 'New section' and enter the headings you want.

Remember you will still be required to tag each item using the Essential, Recommended or Background tags.

 
Using notes
 

You can add a note to items on your reading list which provide additional information.
Public notes can be viewed by anyone with access to the reading list.
Private notes can only be viewed by you.

To add a public note:

  • Open the reading list and select the item you want to add a note to.
  • Click on Public Note and enter your text.
  • Click on Add Note and enter your note text in the box and click Save.

Items with public notes will display the text of the note under the item in list view.

Example notes, e.g. adding a book then using the note field to indicate “Please read: Chapter 2, pages 125-139”

 
Collapsing sections on your list 
 

If you have a large number of sections on your list, it is easier to collapse or expand each section to limit what you are seeing on the screen.

In the list, click on the drop-down arrow next to each heading to expand or collapse. 

Or you can toggle the whole list and collapse all items within each heading.

 An image showing how to toggle between section and item detail view.

 
Editing an item on your list
 

If you want to edit an item on your list (perhaps add a note for your students, change the format of an item from Book to eBook, or recommend a chapter or page numbers) then:

  • Click on the title of the item.
  • This opens the item and gives more detail, including the Links & Availability, and access to the Public Notes field.
  • Click on Edit in the field you want to change.
  • Click on Save to make any changes you have made.
 
Deleting an item from your list
 

If you want to delete an item from your list (perhaps to replace it with a later edition, or because you no longer wish your students to consult it) then:

  • Click on the three dots within the item.
  • Click on Delete item.
  • Click on DELETE to confirm the action.

An image showing deletion of an item from a Reading List.

Image of a meadow with the words 'The wise choice' showing