Electronic Resources in the Virtual Learning

Resource implications and staffing issues
At Sheffield, as with many other universities, it was agreed that library
staff would set up the online reading lists, which has obvious resource
implications. The intention was that once lists had been set up they could
be edited by academic staff to take account of any changes. In the Main
Library the Resources Team undertake a range of tasks including
checking reading lists and preparing paper coursepacks. This group of
staff were trained to use TalisList and add lists to the system. In the past,
academic staff submitted their reading lists to the library to ensure
materials were available for the start of teaching. Lists were usually
received in Word format and could be checked to ensure the material
was available. However, using TalisList an online list is created with links
to the full-text resource where available. Links to electronic journals,
web-based resources and any other electronic materials can therefore be
inserted so that the student can access the full text.
At the various site libraries in Sheffield, reading lists were added to the
TalisList system by staff based there. Therefore overall the creation of
online reading lists was shared out among a number of library staff. In
2004 there were almost 2,000 lists available and 75 per cent of these lists
include links to full-text articles in electronic journals.
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Electronic Resources in the Virtual Learning Environment
Related developments
A related project is investigating the issues involved in establishing and
managing an e-offprint service. Part of the work is to compare the costs
and benefits of using the HERON Service versus in-house copyright
clearance and digitisation. However, the project is also investigating the
integration of the e-offprint service with the provision of online reading
lists via TalisList. The project will evaluate the usage by students and
academic staff and their preference for print coursepacks versus
electronic packs, and estimate the resource requirements for rolling out
the service more widely.
The roll out of the reading list system has also led to interesting
discussions between library and academic staff about the nature and
purpose of reading lists. Some staff were concerned that by providing
links to full-text articles, students were being ‘spoon-fed’ while others
saw this as essential ‘scaffolding’ to their learning. To counteract any
claims of spoon-feeding, tutors are able to decide themselves whether a
link directs a student straight to an article. The resource lists can also be
used to integrate information skills into the curriculum. Parker (2004a)
gives an excellent example of how this is happening:
For example, in one of the nursing lists students are required to
search for illustrations of the Ebola virus, and through annotation the
Library staff have suggested how to carry out not only an image
search but also how to search for phrases on Google. 
Issues and concerns
Since the launch of TalisList a number of issues and concerns have been
highlighted. Keeping lists up to date is proving problematic as TalisList
currently does not have a link checker. This request has been passed to
Talis. It is also a challenge to take a holistic approach to lists and
coordinate between whether articles are available full text, as electronic
offprints, included in printed coursepacks or as printed short loan
offprints. For this reason Sheffield have purchased the Packtracker
system
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from HERON to try to manage this. The Library has found that
since launching the project the problem of obtaining reading lists from
academics in time to process them has not gone away. That said,
academic staff have been impressed with the online system so the Library
is receiving a higher percentage of lists than previously. At the time of
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Case studies and practical examples
writing this case study, the Library was just starting to revise old reading
lists and believed it would be important to assess how much work is
involved in editing existing lists as opposed to inputting from scratch.