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Reading Lists and Course Reserves: Reading Lists for Students

This guide gives you step-by-step instructions on how to use the Reading List tool.
Reading Lists for Students banner image

Reading Lists for Students

Reading Lists make it easy for you to access all of your class readings in one place. This means you won't have to jump between external websites, OAKS, external documents, and the library website.

  • Real time availability information is included for each resource on the list, for example: you can see if a print book is available to borrow and where it's located in the library.
  • You can filter the reading list by resource type - which can be useful when trying to navigate a long reading list.
  • You can export a reading list to a Word document, Excel spreadsheet, or PDF if you would prefer to use it in another format.
  • While we don't have any physical course reserves right now, Reading Lists will eventually keep both digital and physical course reserves information in one place.

Reading Lists are built by your course instructor and embedded into OAKS. Reading lists can contain:

  • Library materials (books, ebooks, streaming media, links to databases, etc.)
  • Links to outside resources such as:
    • YouTube, Vimeo, or other streaming media platforms
    • Websites
    • Blogs
  • PDFs or other documents your instructor may want to upload

The reading list for your class should be embedded directly into your course in OAKS.

However, once inside the Reading List software, it's easy to find other reading lists. Simply click "Find Lists" from the left hard menu, and you can search for any list you have permission to view, including public lists.

Screenshot of how to find a reading list

It's simple to start using your reading list.  Click on any of the resources on the list that you may want to access. 

You can easily tell which items on the reading list are physical and which are available electronically. Physical items (such as print books or DVDs) will have their availability status and location clearly indicated (see first circle) while electronic items (such as eBooks, streaming media, or online journal articles) will have the blue link text of "View Online" or "Check Availability" (see second circle). Either way, just click on the item to see more details.

Image of Reading List with physical or digital format circled.

Here's a quick video walkthrough of the Reading List tool:

 

Helpful Resources