My Unit Readings provides students with easy access to essential and recommended readings as well as textbook information. You can create and amend your own reading list or the Library can assist you.
Why use My Unit Readings?
Whilst some material can be delivered to students via the LMS, copyright protected content (including book chapters or print journal articles) must be delivered using My Unit Readings, as detailed in the University’s Copyright Policy and Procedure. Unit readings are made available to students under a range of licences and contracts, including the Copyright Act’s Statutory Licence. For information on the terms of the Statutory Licence, and how to use Creative Commons licensed works see Copyright and teaching at Murdoch.
Selecting resources for your reading list
You can access a wide variety of resources to add to reading lists through our extensive online and print collections.
We also encourage teaching staff to consider using Open Educational Resources (OERs), which offer unlimited user access to students at no cost:
- Copyright friendly resources (textbooks, data, images, music and
more)
- Faculty Select ebooks (Murdoch staff only).
If you need assistance selecting resources for your reading list, Ask our Librarians.
Adding textbook information to a reading list
My Unit Readings is the source of truth for essential and recommended textbooks. Students will use My Unit Readings to gather details on textbooks they require for their unit. Unit coordinators are required to keep textbook information up to date in their reading lists to ensure students purchase the correct textbook for their unit.
To add textbook details to reading lists, complete our My Unit Readings form with the details of each textbook, including title, ISBN, edition/year and whether it is an essential textbook or recommended textbook. Essential textbooks are those that students are required to purchase for their unit.
Once you have added essential textbooks to your reading list, the Library will purchase copies of the textbooks according to the table below.
| Number of students | Number of copies purchased |
|---|---|
| 0-30 | 1 |
| 30-60 | 2 |
| 60+ | 3 |
Alternatively, an unlimited user licence may be purchased for the Library when availability or price allows.
Create your own reading list
We encourage you to create your own list in My Unit Readings. Doing so allows you to quickly and independently update and maintain your list without any publishing delay.
Ask us to create or amend a list
The Library is happy to create or amend a reading list for you in My Unit Readings.
Provide the following details about each item on your reading list:
- Resource citation including details such as author(s), title, chapter, edition, date, ISBN, ISSN, URL, etc.
- How you would like items organised on your list (for example, 'Week 1' or 'Topic 1')
Request cut off dates
To ensure we can create a reading list for you in time, submit your request by the following dates:
| Study Period | Submit before |
|---|---|
| Trimester 1 (TJA and TJC) | 25 November 2024 |
| Trimester 1 (T1) | 2 December 2024 |
| Semester 1 | 13 January 2025 |
| Trimester 2 | 24 March 2025 |
| Semester 2 | 16 June 2025 |
| Trimester 3 | 14 July 2025 |
Add lecture slides/notes to a reading list
Lecture slides and notes that include copyright protected content (images, graphs, maps used under the Statutory Licence) must be delivered to students using My Unit Readings. Send us your lecture slides or notes and we will add them to the reading list.
Add items to High Demand Collection
You can request print items from your reading list to be added to the High Demand collection at the Library, allowing students access as a short-term loan. Essential texts for units are already included in the High Demand collection.
Items added to High Demand are removed at the end of the year. Submit a new request each year to keep items in the High Demand Collection. We regularly monitor usage of items and reserve the right to remove low use items.
Link to your reading list in the LMS
You can embed a reading list from My Unit Readings into your teaching material in the LMS.
- Log in to the Learning Management System (LMS), select your unit and turn editing on.
- Select 'Add an activity or resource'; under 'Resources', select 'My Unit Readings'
- Enter a Section title (for example 'NUR210 reading list' or ‘Topic 1 Readings’)
- Click 'Link to resource list or section', and on the Authenticate page, press 'Click to Continue'
- Select the section of the reading list from the drop down menu (if required) and click 'Save'
If your list is not appearing correctly or is linking to an archived list, delete the Talis Resource icon, and follow the steps above. For further assistance with embedding a My Unit Readings list into the LMS please contact Learning and Teaching Services.
