Introduction
UHI Libraries combines both physical and virtual resources. They are made up of all of the physical holdings available in the colleges and learning centres, and all of the electronic resources (including full text e-books and e-journals, multimedia and maps) that UHI makes available via the library pages.
Searching for content in UHI libraries is straight forward, thanks to Library Search – a tool that searches UHI’s physical and owned/ subscribed eBook and eJournal collections. Results are displayed in order of relevance and can filtered in a number of ways. Some collections e.g. maps, primary sources and reports, can only be accessed and searched via the UHI library A-Z Online Collections pages - please contact your local librarian for more information.
When it comes to connecting to library resources (and guidance) in Brightspace, there are two main ways you can do this:
- Via the navbar
- Via individual items in the Content area
On the next page we will look at how you and your students can access library resources via the navbar in any Brightspace unit or module.
Accessing library resources via the navbar in Brightspace
One way that you can access library resources, and guidance, in Brightspace is via the heading Library Resources in the navbar.
Clicking on Library Resources reveals a six item drop-down list:
- Module Resource Lists
- Library Homepage
- LibGuides
- Library Video Guides
- Referencing Guidance
- eResources
- Library Chat
Learn more about each of the items in the drop-down list below (click on any image to enlarge).
UHI uses software by Talis Aspire to integrate reading lists within Brightspace. You can either direct students to whole lists or embed individual items with the Content area.
To discover more about this and review illustrated guidance created by UHI Libraries, visit their Module and Unit (HN) Resource Lists LibGuide page.
The library homepage is the hub of the UHI library presence online.
From this launch page you can:
- Access the wealth of online collections that UHI subscribes to
- Discover how to search for material
- See how to reference material
- Find out how to access support
- ...and much more.
LibGuides is the jumping off point for a wide variety of guidance created by the library team.
There are various guides which can be filtered by subject (e.g. Aircraft Engineering, Cultural Studies, Marine Science, etc.), type (general purpose, subject/topic guide) or owner (author).
The guides are essentially mini-sites that can contain UHI-specific guidance, news and often direct links to material.
An area of LibGuides, Video guides provides a number of short videos, created by the library team, covering aspects of the library service, such as Multisearch, reading lists, online journals and the A-Z collections list.
Video guides also contains some videos created by system suppliers, designed to help you make best use of the wide range of electronic resources that the university subscribes to.
Being able to cite and reference correctly are essential skills for any UHI student. This page (pictured opposite) provides guidance on how to reference, including how this is done in the UHI Harvard style.
In addition, on this page you will find links to RefWorks - a tool provided to all at UHI that can store, and enable users to generate, references for use in academic work.
eResources is a LibGuide page that pulls together a wide variety of electronic collections.
The UHI library offers access to a vast amount of material. To help narrow the search, for those that need it, the library team curates collections of related material, which are listed alphabetically in their A-Z Online Collections.
These collections include full-text e-books, e-journals, datasets, maps, multimedia, image banks, and research resources (including working papers).
Users can scroll through the alphabetical list, use a free text filter function to search for individual collections, or search by subject, collection type or vendor. New collections are highlighted.
Accessing library resources in the Content area of Brightspace
Links to library resources can also be added directly to the Content area of a Brightspace unit or module. On this page we deal with how to bring in resources from a reading list and how to create links to individual items discovered through the Library Search tool.
- An improved student experience by providing easy and consistent access to reading materials.
- Lists are available at point of need, so there's no need to search a separate system or visit the library website.
- Ensure stable access to learning resources over time. There's no need to copy and paste links or details into the VLE, as Talis creates persistent links to a wide variety of resources.
- Add weekly reading or sub categories with additional reading that is specific to a particular seminar or assignment.
- The ability to annotate lists to provide additional context to students. How much of the resource should they read? What pages? What key themes should they focus on?
Note: The available embedding options depend on how the list has been structured in the Talis Aspire reading list software.
Watch
Richard Hughes from the UHI Libraries team has created a very helpful video about embedding reading list content in Brightspace. Click on the picture below to access (*Note: you may have to login to see the video).
Visit the full Module Reading Lists (Staff) LibGuide page for more information
Another way to add direct links to library resources in Brightspace is by using the Create a Link function from the Brightspace Upload / Create menu.
To create a link to a library resource follow these steps:
Navigate to the library resource that you wish to add to your unit/module (use Library Search, which allows users to search across a variety of sources at once).
The Library team have created guidance on using using Library Search to search across e-resource and print collections.
As we have seen already, UHI Libraries offers access to a wide variety of materials. Below we will look at eBooks and eJournals.
eBooks
When you have found the title you wish using Library Search (in the example opposite I searched for 'The Genetics and Development of Scoliosis’), click on the link to the title to bring up the full record for that particular eBook.
Click on the ‘View eBook’ button (shown below) to access the book online.
Alternatively, you can create and copy a link to the material. To do this, first click on the 'Copy' button at the top right of the result screen. This opens a popup window, from which you can click on 'copy link'.
![Accessing a [sharing] link to the resource](files/images/Sharing a link.png?1661796053306 "Accessing a [sharing] link to the resource")
Accessing eJournal articles from Library Search follows a similar process.
Once you find the title you are looking for, click on the View full text button. In the example opposite I searched for 'information needs of distance learners' and found a journal article I would like to share. As before, you can use the ‘share’ button in Library Search and copy the resulting link, or you copy a link from the eResource platform instead (see step 3).
When viewing the article, you may have to login to the database that provides access to the journal using your UHI credentials. Most library resources use single sign-on that will be familiar from accessing other university services.
Next, you need to copy a url to add to Brightspace that will take your students directly to the place that you want.
Copy the persistent link url to a document or text file.
If you are looking at an eResource and are unable to find a persistent link, contact UHI UniDesk .
Open a new tab in your browser and login to Brightspace.
In the unit/module that you want to add library content to, click on Content in the navbar.
Navigate to the appropriate content area, and from the Upload / Create dropdown menu select Create a Link.
In the popup that appears give the item a title, then paste the permalink you copied previously into the URL box.
Make sure you click on Open as External Resource (failing to do this can cause errors).
Finally, click on Create.
You will now see a link icon and clickable title in your unit/module. To make things clearer for your students, consider adding a description to the item. To do this, click on the downwards facing arrow to the right of the item heading and select Edit properties-in-place.
Next, click on Add a description (one way to approach this, in the case of an article, is to use part of the abstract).
When you are happy, click Update.
Here's what a student would see (clicking on the blue heading will take them right to the article).
