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Resource Lists: Best Practice

Guidance & Best Practice for using resource lists

Guidelines for Presentation

As a part of the University approved 'Reading and Resource List Framework' academic colleagues agreed the following shared guidelines for the presentation and maintenance of Resource Lists:

 

Resource Lists for taught modules should provide a clear week-to-week or topic guide for students about what they should read, when and why:

  • Add resources to the relevant weekly/topic sections on the Resource List

  • Divide resources into either Essential or Further using the Status Importance option

  • Limit the number of resources to items that it would be reasonable to expect a student to read during their independent study time for a module during the week. e.g. 2-3 items for Essential, plus 2-3 Further per week. This will vary according to level and subject area.

  • Use the Student Note field to contextualise resources, e.g why is it relevant to the topic, what it covers etc.

 

When preparing Resource Lists, priority should be given to materials that are available in digital form:
  • This should include the use of the Library's existing online collections, such as eBooks, online journals/magazines/newspapers and audio-visual resources. See the Library Subject Resource guides for more sources.
  • **In addition the Library also offers a copyright-cleared Digitisation Service for essential book chapters/pages and journal articles which can be requested via the Resource List.
Resource Lists are accessible and visible to students through the relevant Moodle module site.

You should use the Moodle plug-in functionality to embed and contextualise the resource list in relevant Moodle sections allowing students to easily view and access materials.

Example of a Resource List:

Below is an example of a weekly section of a Resource List embedded in Moodle. Each item has been designated as Essential or Further, and has been annotated to contextualise the resource.

example of a resource list embedded in Moodle.

Accessing resources

Accessing Resources

Library staff have been working hard behind the scenes to implement EZProxy, the seamless authentication service for access to e-resources. Staff and students should now encounter fewer barriers to access in the form of confusing log-in screens – provided you have navigated via a library page (such as UR Library Search, Subject Guides or Resource Lists). This also avoids the risk of broken links, which do happen as resource URLs change, whereas the Library automatically updates these so you don’t have to.

Your Librarian can work with you to ensure your Moodle page directs students via the Library’s pre-authenticated routes. For instance, rather than linking direct to the database URL or suggesting Google, you can guide them to recommended resources by:

• Linking to one of our Subject Guides, which list the relevant databases plus information on how to search them;

• Linking to the resource using the Library link from our A-Z Database list (right click on the title and then Copy Link Address);

This will improve the searching experience for students, making them more likely to engage with the content and develop their information seeking skills. As a bonus, the Library platforms allow easier collection of usage statistics, which provide vital evidence for us to retain these valuable subscriptions.