Enhancing the online learning experience through our Reading Lists services

19 Nov 2020

After years of persuading University colleagues of the value of online reading lists and electronic core text provision, the Reading Lists team have suddenly found ourselves with more demand than we can keep up with!

The rapid move to online and blended learning for our staff and students has illustrated the importance of the Library’s provision of seamless, equitable access to online reading lists and resources.

Although the move to online delivery has been sudden and the level of demand unprecedentedly high, we are in a more comfortable position than many other HE libraries. This is because of our shift towards online provision over the past five years, including our e-first policy for reading list content, our integrated online reading list system and our popular digitisation service.

While many other libraries are still trying to get to grips with the basics of delivering 1-2-1 eTextbooks to their students from scratch, our well established eTextbook programme (already one of the largest in the UK) has now been expanded to support as many of our students as possible with a personal downloadable copy of their core textbook. The Library now provides students on almost 500 course units with access to an interactive eTextbook (up from 194 last year), and 100% of all first-year undergraduates will be given access to at least one core eTextbook through the programme.

Since the University’s move to online and blended teaching, the Library’s aim has been to provide all reading list content electronically. We see this as the only way to provide appropriate and equitable access for all our students, no matter where they are, what their situation or whether our Library buildings and collections are open and accessible. This of course has brought many challenges including technical and systems issues, along with a publishing environment that has not yet made the move to electronic provision effectively.

So while we are reaping the reward for our hard work in recent years, the sheer volume, breadth and speed at which we have been required to provide content has been difficult. The team have worked tirelessly over the summer, with much appreciated support from staff across the Library. And yet the orders still keep coming! For example, the team has reviewed 842 lists for electronic provision and, in addition to the eTextbooks provided on the 1-2-1 model, we have purchased a further 518 new standard ebooks since June.

We continue to work with publishers and suppliers to source electronic access to the books we need in an affordable and sustainable way, while striving to ensure the platforms and systems we use provide our staff and students with an experience that not just mirrors that of the print environment, but enhances the learning process. This is however an ongoing battle, with further shifts needed across the publishing world to allow the sector to move more effectively toward what is now a fundamental requirement for all: online access to taught course material.

Olivia Walsby