Changes to the Course Materials Policy for 2020-21

Published: 15 July 2020

Updates reflect the need for students to have access to online resources

As we prepare to deliver online and blended teaching in 2020-21, the Course Materials Policy has been updated to reflect the need for students to have access to online resources, supporting accessibility and flexible access to materials.

Regarding essential and core texts, the policy for 2020-21 recommends:

  • Academics review reading lists to identify essential/core texts for course use.
  • Academics investigate existing electronic content in collaboration with College Librarians.
  • The Reading Lists @ Glasgow service will then look to obtain in electronic formats any essential texts not already available.
  • The procurement of course materials will include the purchase of e-book collections, individual e-books and the digitisation of chapters under the Copyright Licensing Agency’s digitisation licence when an e-book cannot be obtained.
  • No print books should be purchased in the 2020-21 academic year for course materials.

Regarding further and background reading, the policy recommends that new texts are not purchased. Instead, use should be made of the approximately one million e-books and other extensive online content to which the Library has access. To support this, the Library has secured a subscription to approximately 175k additional academic e-books. The collection will be monitored for usage and relevance.

The Library will continue to support academics and students to ensure that they have access to course materials, and the policy will be reviewed throughout the academic year.

Reading Lists @ Glasgow

Reading Lists @ Glasgow is the University’s online reading list system, ensuring that required teaching resources are accessible and available for your students. The system provides easy access to electronic resources, including digitised readings, as well as information on the live availability and location of physical stock in the Library. It is accessible 24/7 online and on mobile devices. It ensures that adequate copies are purchased for your course and assists in allocating material to the High Demand Collection. Lists, once published, can be viewed by all via the web, or you have the option to make your list accessible only to University staff and students. Reading lists can be added as a resource within Moodle and detailed information is available about the use of material on your lists.

For more information on Reading Lists @ Glasgow and the Course Materials Policy for 2020-21 see glasgow.ac.uk/library/staff/readinglists.


First published: 15 July 2020