Editing lists

This is a guide to help you navigate through editing a list. In this guide you will find information on:

• Adding resources, paragraphs and sections to your reading list
• Moving items or sections within your list
• Editing an existing item, section or paragraph on your list
• Navigating your list while in edit
• Adding and editing notes on your reading list
• Requesting a digitisation
• View the list as a student

Note: All actions and menus are accessible using screen readers and your keyboard.

Adding to your list

Adding resources, paragraphs, and sections, is all completed using the Action bar, which appears on your list wherever you move your cursor.  

Adding resources

Click 'Add Resource' to add resources to your list from your existing bookmarks, or create a new bookmark using Quick Add. If you aren't able to locate a resource with Quick Add, or if you'd prefer to manually create a bookmark, you're also able to do so from this screen.

Use the search bar to find a resource to add to your list.  The results are separated into My Bookmarks (those from your bookmarks) and either Library Search - resources from your library's own holdings - if your institution is using a Discovery Layer integration, or Book Search if your library has opted to use results from Nielsen Book Data (more information is available here).

Click 'Show more' to see more results matching your search text, or browse your bookmarks.

Once you've found a resource you'd like to add to your list, click the title (if it's a Quick Add result, you'll be prompted to select an edition). The resource will be added to your list as an unpublished change, meaning this is not yet visible to students.  This will remain an unpublished change until you choose to publish the list.

NOTE: If your institution has enabled our Discovery Layer integration, you will be able to search and add resources directly from your library's own holdings, instead of from Nielsen Book Data - this includes additional item types beyond books that your library may hold. If your institution has enabled this, then 'Library Search' will appear instead of 'Books Search' below your existing bookmarks. Further information is available in Talis Aspire Discovery Integrations.

Adding paragraphs

Want to add a note to your reading list without it being associated with a specific item or section?  You can do this using 'Add paragraph' from the Action bar.

Once you've clicked 'Add paragraph' a blank box will appear for you to start adding your notes:

Simple styling options are available within the paragraph to enhance your message. These are:

• Bold
• Italicise
• Underline
• Numbered list
• Bulleted list

You can also choose to include URLs in your text; when you're writing a paragraph, simply include a URL or email address you want to link to:

Don't forget to click 'Save' or 'Cancel' before continuing.

Adding sections

Sections are a great way to add structure and guidance to your list, making it easier for students to navigate and consume the information.

Clicking 'Add Section' opens a dialog box for you to add a title for your new section, and add a description if you so choose (Note: Description is not a required field).

Once you've entered a title and clicked 'Save' your new section will be added to your list as an unpublished change. This will remain unpublished until you choose to publish your changes.

The section will be easily identifiable by the empty section alert which contains prompts to start adding resources, paragraphs or sections into it.  If you publish the list with an empty section, the alert will not be visible to your students.

You're not restricted to using those prompts to add to your section - you can use the action bar or move items as described below.

Moving items and sections on a reading list

We all have a personal preference regarding methods of creating and editing lists, and you might find some methods are better for certain scenarios, so if you are using the edit screen for the first time we do recommend you try different methods to see what best works for you.

There are three methods available for moving an item or section on your reading list.  These are:

• Cut and paste
• Move up or Move down
• Drag and drop

Cut and paste

This is a great all-round method for moving items and sections around on a list.  To use this, click the action button next to the object you're wanting to move, then select 'Cut'.

The item you have cut becomes shadowed, and the action bar becomes a paste or cancel bar.

To paste the item or section in the list, navigate to where you would like it to be on the list and use the paste bar, or the 'Paste below' option visible in the above screenshot.

Note: This is to move an item or section within the same list, and is not able to cut something from one list and paste it into another.

Move up or Move down

If you only want to move an item or section one spot up, either above the next item or into the section above, you can do this by clicking the Action button, and selecting Move up (Move down is also available).

Note: If you want to move an item (or section) above or below a section, you should use either the 'drag and drop' or 'cut and paste' methods.

Drag and drop

If you prefer dragging and dropping elements into place, you're able to do this by clicking and holding the up and down arrow button. The below screenshot is the drag in action so you can see the shadowing that is visible when you are dragging an item.

If you are moving an item a long way, we'd recommend you use the cut and paste method.

Editing an existing item, section or paragraph on the list

If you want to edit an existing item, section, or paragraph on the reading list, you can do this by clicking the Action button and selecting 'Edit'. This will open the edit modal where you can make your changes, and then select save or cancel to take you back to the top of the List Edit interface.  

IMPORTANT NOTES:

When editing an item's metadata,

• If the item is present on the student view on the list (ie. the item has been previously published on the list) updates are instantly available on the student view without the need to re-publish.
• If the same bookmark of the item is used on other lists you will receive a popup asking if you want to update this instance of the bookmark or all instances. Updating all instances will update the bookmark across your reading lists even when the item appears on an archived.

Any changes to sections and paragraphs need to be published before they are visible to your students.

Navigating your list when in edit

While on the list, the in list filter and navigation bar scrolls with you. Use this feature to:

• search the list for a specific item
• use the Table of Contents to jump between sections of your list (useful when using cut and paste)
• view the digitisation status of items
• choose to view only online or print resources
• filter the list by the importance of items
• view the list in a range of citation styles

Adding, editing or deleting notes on your reading list

Use notes to an item to give additional guidance:

• for your students (eg. important for assignment 1)
• or only to the library (eg. please place on short term loan)

To add or edit a student or library note, simply click the action button for the item and select the appropriate note:

This will open a free text box on the item where you can add or edit your message. Once you've added your message click 'Save', or click 'Delete' to remove the note.

The note for students can be identified by a mortarboard hat image, and the note for library has a small building image:

Note: The note for library is only visible on the edit view of the list. To ensure the library becomes aware of the note we recommend you send your list for review.

Request a digitisation

To request a digitisation from your list, click the actions button and select 'Request digitisation'.

This will launch the digitisation request form which will be pre-populated from information from:

• the metadata of the item
• the course name, course code, and student numbers from the hierarchy node(s) associated with the list (if this exists)
• start and end dates from the time period of the list (if this exists)
• your email address and name

You are able to edit this form to change or add additional/missing information, however, any changes may impact the matching with existing requests within Talis Aspire Digitised Content.

For more information on completing the digitisation request form, please see the Request Form - Talis Aspire Digitised Content support article.

View the list as a student

While editing the list it is often useful to see the list as a student would (without the edit options, etc).  You can do this by clicking 'View' and selecting 'As student'.

Note: this is only available for lists that have been published or are published with unpublished changes.