While they are not an Open Educational Resource, digital readings can offer a way for cohorts of students to access essential readings for their course. When the licencing permits, it is possible for the Library to create or acquire digital chapters/sections of books to be added to reading lists. This is particularly useful when an ebook is not available. The Library will scan the physical book and make a digital copy to be used online.These chapters or sections can be accessed by all students on the module or block via their Talis Aspire Reading lists in Brightspace or Canvas.
This is possible because Brunel's Copyright Licencing Agency (CLA) licence allows us to make portions of permissible texts available to a specific set of students via the VLE for educational purposes. The CLA licence makes clear that only a portion of text may be digitised for these purposes, either one chapter or 10% of a book, whichever is greater.
Not all texts are eligible for digitisation. Check on the CLA Check Permissions tool or ask your Academic Liaison Librarian for advice.
You can check to see if a book is eligible for digitisation by looking up the ISBN in CLA Check Permission website. This will provide details of the licence permssions for a text, for example if a book is eligible for Scanning (digitisation). Search the ISBN of the text you want to digitise and select the 'Higher Education' permissions filter.
Open the Licence Usage drop down to get more information on whether it is possible to scan a portion of the text for a digital reading.
Image: Screenshot from the CLA Licence Checker result page displaying permissions for Higher Education usage for a text.
Digital reading requests can be made via your Talis Aspire list for your module/study block.
Create a bookmark for the text you would like to be digitised and add it to your list.
In the editing mode you can add a 'Note to library' to your Reading list, by selecting the ellipsis in the item record. This will open an additional free text field.
Use this field to indicate to the Library the chapter or section you would like digitised. It is important to record the page range and chapter title in this field to allow us to digitise the right portion of the text.
Publish your list and request review. Publishing makes changes you have made visible to others. Requesting review notifies the Library team that your list has been edited and will trigger a review of any new requirements.
Your Library Note will be reviewed by the Reading List Digitisation Team to check whether it will be possible to digitise your chapter/section in the timeframe given. In order for a digital reading to be created the Library needs to have a physical copy of the text. If the book is not already in our collections, time and funds for acquisition need to considered.