Reading Lists (Leganto)

Managing Reading Lists - Leganto for Faculty

What is it? 

Leganto is CityU’s central repository of course resources which promotes collaboration between program directors, instructors, and librarians to create and publish course Reading Lists.  

With Leganto, faculty can: 

• Quickly add resources from the web, drag and drop library resources, or upload files to a centralized Reading List 

• Add or edit resources to the section Reading List at any point in the quarter 

• Easily reuse content in subsequent terms by saving citations in the Favorites area. (section reading lists and items on those lists do not carry over to future reading lists. To save items for future use, add them to your Favorites and tag them with the course number).

How do I gain access? 

Instructors will gain access to their section Reading Lists when their Brightspace course shells are available (21 days before the start of the quarter).  Reading List appears as a tab at the top of the page. Once students have access to the course shell, they will also access their Reading List this way.  

* You will not be able to access your section reading list unless you open it from Brightspace first. Once it has been opened through Brightspace, the section reading list will appear on your Leganto homepage.

What if I don't have my shell yet?

If you need to review your reading list prior to accessing your Brightspace course, you can see the reading list by using the library homepage. Select the "Reading Lists" button on the library homepage and use search bar to search for your course acronym and number (ex.: BC301 or BC 301). You will not be able to edit the list but you can review the required materials that students have been asked to purchase or access. You can also access ebooks using the links provided.

Your courses should appear using the "My Lists" drop down but if you do not see a list that you would like to review, use the drop down menu to select "All Lists."

Is use of Leganto Reading Lists required? 

Leganto is automatically added to Brightspace for all classes. We recommend that all required and recommended readings are listed on the Leganto reading list. Any links to resources in the course shell are not monitored or maintained by the library. By instituting Leganto Reading Lists across all courses, we improve the student experience by standardizing the method in which students access materials. Keeping links out of the course shell also results in less instances of broken or outdated links. 

How should I organize my Reading Lists? 

Program managers and directors are responsible for ensuring that courses have accurate and detailed reading lists for core resources. Materials that are required and that are linked in shells should be on the reading lists. Faculty may add supplemental resources to section lists for courses they are teaching. 

You can maximize the benefits of the reading lists by following these best practices. These tips will benefit you but they will also maintain consistency for students throughout programs and courses at CityU.

• Add all items required and recommended that students will need to access throughout the quarter. Master reading lists copy over to section lists. Ensuring that all content is accurate helps your faculty and students access resources efficiently. 
• Always send students to the Reading List. In order to avoid confusion and errors, do not duplicate information into emails or alternate lists.
• Keep the items organized by adding sections to your list. ex.: Week 1, Module 1, or by topic.
• *NEW* Tag items within sections as "Required, "Recommended," "Optional," etc.

• Link items directly to the library when available. Use the Add button when adding a new citation to a reading list and then select "Search the Library". This searches Summon, our library catalog, and ensures accurate links and metadata. If the item is not found, then use the Cite It tool or the ISBN option to add an item that is not in our collection. 

• Items from websites must be freely available or must have Creative Commons Licenses that enable you to share the item.
• Add items that you want to use in future quarters to your "Favorites." Add tags to indicate which course the resource should be used for. Items added to section lists do not carry over quarter to quarter.

Things to Avoid

• PDFs should be added with caution. They are not automatically visible to students and must be approved by the library due to copyright restrictions. PDFs that are freely available online should be linked to the original website when possible.
• Items from your private collections cannot be added without copyright clearance for distribution. Contact the library if this applies to one of your resources.
• Avoid linking to websites that are not reputable or reliable. ex.: ResearchGate. These websites have been known to host articles that the library cannot obtain in the collection. While this may seem beneficial, these articles are often uploaded without copyright clearance and they are often removed without warning. Using these items may cause confusion for students and faculty and impact the integrity of your course content.
  • For Program Managers: Make sure to create new citations when you update editions of textbooks. Editing the current citation, can create errors within the metadata of the citation causing confusion and errors in student purchases.