Connect VI: Home

​myReadingList has been launched, and course teams can now create dynamic reading lists for their students, consisting of all sorts of resources, from within myUCA course and unit areas.

It is easy to use and access and will improve the visibility of reading lists and help the library to make sure it provides the right resources to support learning and teaching.

There are many benefits for students including -

• Access to reading material directly from myUCA.
• Reading list resources are more accessible.
• Reading lists display on mobile devices.
• Students can interact with the reading list and prioritise readings.

Lecture Capture (Panopto) has arrived!  This will allow course teams to record their lectures, either in the theatre or workshop/studio space, from multiple camera angles as well as live stream themselves and their lecture content over the internet to students not in the studio.

In addition to this, you are able to pre-record or livestream lectures, workshops, presentations and seminars from your own desk space. Captions are automatically generated for you too!

Recordings can be edited, embedded, ordered into playlists and turned into quizzes/assignments all from within myUCA for students to watch again at their own pace.

For details of which teaching spaces on your campus provide Panopto please contact campus Technical Services.  For support using Panopto within myUCA please contact mycoursehelp@uca.ac.uk.

Blackboard Ally allows course teams to review content they have uploaded to myUCA and see how accessible it is.  Ally is embedded within myUCA and will automatically scan content as it is uploaded and provide suggested amendments to improve the content.  Helpful guides walk through the process of improving accessibility and you can quickly update content if needed.

Ally will also allow your students to generate their own accessible versions of content at the click of a link, thus saving you the time of creating multiple accessible versions of the same content.  For more information and support using Blackboard Ally, contact - mycoursehelp@uca.ac.uk.

The Library’s new Webinar Programme, initiated for lockdown, began with a series of webinars to help colleagues and students adapt to the changing nature of information access. As the Programme has proved successful, the Programme will continue throughout the Autumn Term.

The Programme will provide you and your students with relevant, current content to support learning, teaching, research and the student experience. Topics covered over the next three months include moving image electronic resources, Harvard referencing, and Paperpile citation management.

Webinars take place between 12.00 and 13.00 on Wednesday or Thursday each week.  For further details see Library Webinars Autumn 2020.  Where you will find those sessions that have been recorded should you have missed any or want a recap.

Please forward details to your students and look forward to welcoming you to the online library soon.

Over 140,000 images at your fingertips - free for educational use!

The Library is excited to announce the launch of the new VADS website at -https://www.vads.ac.uk

VADS is a service of UCA Library and provides over 140,000 images from over 300 art and design collections across the UK, which are freely available for your non-commercial educational use.  

VADS images cover a broad range of visual arts subjects including applied arts, architecture, design, fashion, fine art, and media.  Highlights include objects from UCA’s Crafts Study Centre, UCA Textiles Collection, and the fashion archive of UCA Chancellor Emerita Dame Zandra Rhodes, alongside images from major collections such as the V&A and Imperial War Museum.

The relaunched VADS website now comes with a number of new features such as the ability to save favourite images, filter search results, zoom many of the images in great detail, and compare images side-by-side with images from other repositories.

Going, going, gone...

Library fines have now gone!  They have been replaced by account blocks.  This means you won't be able to borrow any items until you've returned anything which is overdue.

Fines will still be charged on non-University items which are returned late - for example loans obtained via the Document Supply Service - as these relate to items owned by external libraries.  Damaged or lost items will also still be charged at replacement value plus a small administrative charge.

BoB offers over you and your students access to over 2,000,000 of TV and radio programmes - a great addition, offering lots of learning, teaching, research and downtime opportunities. 

Programmes from the 1970s to the current day, and include broadcasts from UK TV channels such as BBC 1, BBC2, ITV and Channel 4, and from over 75 TV channels in total, including programmes in French, German, and other languages.  Programmes are recorded automatically and stored - so you never have to remember to press the record button. 

BoB is designed for use in universities, and allows you to curate your own collection of playlists, programmes, and clips to support your teaching and students projects.  You can also share BoB programmes in myUCA, and there is one-click citation support for when you need to reference.

Finally - you can access all of this on a wide range of devices, including mobile devices.  You'll find Bob, and lots more, on myLibrary - A-Z Databases.

In response to requests from you - the Library is pleased to announce that a number of new online resources are now available.  New databases include -

Lots more to explore - databases can be found on myLibrary - A-Z Databases.

New electronic journals include -

• Wiley Journals Collection – access to all academic e-journals from Wiley Publishing, including all previous Wiley subscriptions plus the Coloration Technology Textiles Journal.

This, and many more journals, can be found on myLibrary - A-Z Journals.