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2020 Requesting resources

Content

New online resources

Our form for 2024/25 is now closed. Our form for 2025/26 will open in the next academic year. 

You can use this form to request any essential new ejournals, eresources or etextbooks for use in your teachingPlease also use this form for any ebook you would like to add to a resource list for simultaneous or class use by a whole cohort, as this needs a specific licence. More guidance on textbooks below. 

We strongly recommend considering requests as a course team, before submitting the request, to ensure that you are requesting the most useful resources. There are inevitable budget constraints and we want to ensure that we purchase resources that will most benefit students.

For help completing the form and making a case for purchase/subscription, please contact your Academic Liaison Librarian.


 
We purchase journals and eresources (databases, ebook collections and streaming media) by annual subscription. We can't order licensed software or material which needs to be hosted on a server.

As well as your business case, we also look at criteria that affect access. This includes compatibility with Library Search, usage statistics and how many users can access the resource. We rarely buy print journals as their format limits access.

We also gauge value before purchasing by looking at similar resources in our collection, and number of students in the subject area. We will run trials based on demand and staffing capacity.

Each year, we put together a review of requests, which go forward into our budget planning. Please contact your Academic Liaison Librarian if you'd like to see a review of last year’s requests.

Content

Books for modules

Please add books for your courses on our Resource Lists system. It’s a one-stop shop for students to view all their module readings, and integrates seamlessly with Blackboard. Find out how to find, edit, and publish your lists.

Add the books you want your students to read, send the list for review and we’ll do the rest.

We will:

  • Purchase items subject to cost and availability, except those for partner students
  • Buy ebooks where possible, subject to price and licencing terms
  • Discuss long lists, or expensive or out of print items with you

Remember to indicate if a book is essential to help us work out how many copies to buy.


 

Timescales for Resource Lists reviews and purchasing

 

Dates requests placed

Semester 1/Term 1 Lists

May – July

August

September – December

Semester 2/Term 2 Lists

October – November

December

January – March

Term 3 Lists

February - March

April

May – August

Will books be available to my students for the beginning of semester/term?

Likely

Possible (peak acquisitions period)

Unlikely

Digitisation requests for modules

Our digitisation team can provide digital copies on request for a specific module according to the terms of our CLA licence.

Where a university book permitted for digitisation is available on Library Search and on the shelf, the Digitisation Team aim to fulfil requests within 5 working days. Please be aware this cannot be guaranteed during peak times. We would encourage staff to place requests in advance to prevent delays and complete the ‘needed by’ field on the request form.

When a university book is on loan or needs to be purchased for the library collection this process will take longer and a member of the Digitisation Team will contact you to advise.

 

Books for wider reading

You can order books and audio-visual materials that are not recommended on Resource Lists, for example, books that cover current scholarship or research in your area.

These items can be ordered up until the beginning of May each year, subject to budget and should be requested via your Academic Liaison Librarian.

We're also looking to expand our teacher training resources. Let us know your ideas through our Teaching Collection suggestion form.

 

Enhanced ebooks and etextbooks

Enhanced ebooks and etextbooks have quizzes and assessments, alongside standard book content. They often allow for live collaboration and provide staff with enriched data on each user. They are normally aimed at undergraduates. Unlike standard ebooks, access is restricted to named students.

 

Purchasing model

Pricing is per student as an annual subscription. We generally purchase resources that are accessible to all. Please contact the Library Services for advice before buying any enhanced ebooks and etextbooks directly.

Please be aware that some publishers are hugely increasing their prices. In some cases, standard ebooks are being badged as enhanced and sold on subscription-only platforms, with expensive per student pricing. The Library can often acquire these for you at much lower cost and make them available to all students.

 

Before purchasing

Our standard ebooks and etextbooks and digitised chapters are best for providing students with simultaneous access to key texts, such as in a teaching session. You should only consider buying an enhanced version if they aren’t available.

We’d recommend that you make a few checks before purchasing.

  • Will you make good use of the additional features, such as quizzes or live collaboration?
  • Will most of your students use the title regularly?
  • Will the cost per use be £10 or less? For an enhanced ebook or etextbook costing £2000 per year, each student in a cohort of 100 students would need to access it at least 20 times.
  • Can you sustain paying every year?
  • Is it a good match for what is being taught?

 

Help with purchasing

We can advise on alternatives, discounts and how to get good value for money and licensing terms. We can also put you in touch with other departments who use enhanced ebooks and etextbooks. Please contact Debbie Offen for support.

We keep a record of enhanced ebooks and etextbooks used in the University, to help with collective pricing. Please add Deirdre Windsor, Finance Administrator, as a watcher in your procurement process.

 

Blackboard integration

The Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) unit can help with making your purchase available through Blackboard. Please provide them with administrative rights to your purchases.

 

Technical and training support

Contact the publisher representative for help with the platform and training.