As a member of staff working with the University of Liverpool, you are issued with a login (username and password) to access library resources and other networked facilities (such as UoL email, software downloads or campus workstations in the Liverpool campus).
Please note if you are working with UoL as an external staff member (e.g. with KOL or an overseas partnership) you will typically need to have registered as an honorary staff member at UoL, if you have ongoing difficulties please contact the online Librarian.
You can log into the Library Web site at http://libguides.liverpool.ac.uk/online (you'll see a login icon on the left hand side of the screen). If you have never activated your UoL (MWS) login, see our activation help.
If you have problems using your University login or other Library support issues you can try to set a new password at http://register.liv.ac.uk/password or see further options, including 24/7 IT and Library enquiries, or to contact the E-Learning Librarian, please see the support page.
When you have activated your login, you can access the Library for Online Programmes at http://libguides.liv.ac.uk/online to search for E-Journals, E-Books, dissertations and theses, reports & statistics and specialist resources such as legal materials, clinical data, standards and patents, market data etc.
Before attempting to search for Library resources such as E-Journal articles or E-Books please read our Quick Start page and familiarise yourself with the Training page, providing video tutorials and PDF guides. An additional 'Staff' help page is shown in the left menu of the Library for Online Programmes.
You should note that the University Library provides an on-campus Web site at http://liv.ac.uk/library this site is configured for on-campus and electronic resources, online users should ideally avoid this site at present as shelf, archival and other non-digital resources will be displayed.
For services provided by IT Services, using your University network (MWS) login, such as UoL Webmail (using your username@liverpool.ac.uk and login details used for the Library) see the Apps page in the left menu of this site and the IT Services homepage.
You should log into the Library for Online Programmes at http://libguides.liv.ac.uk/online (see 'Log in' icon/link in the left menu) you can search across most of our resources using our main Library Search platform/ search box shown on the homepage
The Library for Online Programmes allows you to search or browse resources either by E-Resource type or subject area. You can see tools in the E-Resources area to look up an article by publication details (go to an article), search within a journal or visit an article by DOI. See the E-Resources pages for similar tools to access data, legal materials, theses and dissertations, newspapers, international standards and patents.
You can search across all subscribed E-Books and E-Journals using our main Library Search platform, you can also search global E-Journal sources using SCOPUS or Web of Science, you can also use the Library Catalogue as an alternative option to search for E-Books or journals at title level (articles are not searchable in the Catalogue). Other specialist sources such as statistics, standards, legal etc. require use of specialist databases (see advice below). For links and search boxes to access these platforms see the homepage or E-Resources pages.
Major platforms for selection of readings include:
See the Support tab above for information on the Library for Online Programmes Quick Start, Training and other support resources such as video and tutorials. For a list of persistent links and embedding advice for sharing/linking to Library support pages and guides, video and tutorials see the 'Embedding Materials' tab above.
The Qiuck Start/ Training page provides a range of structured materials which students should familiarise themselves with at the onset of their programme, Library Web pages and support materials can also be linked or embedded directly in third party Web pages or online modules in the learning environment, see linking/ embedding options shown in the left menu of Library pages, also see guidance and a list of permalinks to pages on the above Embedding Materials tab.
You are advised to consult the Librarian for Online Programmes when developing any new module content which has a readiness or generic training component, the Librarian can advise on the most appropriate approach for linking to core training materials or provision of learning resources and interactive tutorials/ video etc. The student experience can be adversely affected if Library training materials are not properly embedded in readiness modules.
Referencing support such as principles of referencing, avoiding plagiarism, referencing software and referencing styles such as OSCOLA (used for Law), APA (mainly used in Psychology) and Harvard (Cite them Right) are shown on our Referencing page, containing guides, video and tutorials.
The Library provides several applications/ platforms to support management of references/citations -
For further help using EndNote see the Referencing page in the left menu of the Library for Online Programmes.
For general information on E-Books for use in reading lists please see the E-Books tab shown above, for advice on our ReadingLists@Liverpool platform see the Reading Lists page in the left menu. For creating incidental links to E-Resources, see the Permalinks tab above,
For E-Books cited in reading lists please always ensure the source of the E-Book is indicated, e.g. [University of Liverpool Online Library] or other source e.g. [Vital Source E-Book], [Amazon Online Bookstore], if you don’t indicate the general source of the book this results in students attempting to locate the item from an inappropriate source.
You should consider the following when sourcing E-Books in the University Library:
We recommend using UoL Permalinks for embedding or linking to any Web pages within the Library for Online Programmes in external Web sites or learning platforms, see the Embedding materials tab above. Using a permalink will ensure the link remains working into the future. If you would like a new permalink to be created for linking to a Library guide or Web page please contact the Librarian for Online Programmes.
You are free to consult and share Library materials such as guidelines or video, however you should be aware that reproducing materials as copied within the learning environment will likely incur significant maintenance problems over time; your materials will become out of date as systems change or evolve.
The Librarian can maintain/ edit those materials hosted on the UoL Library servers, so that any changes to Library-hosted materials are instantaneously shown on all linked or embedded content. You are strongly advised to link to Library-hosted materials rather than create your own copies for the above reasons, if you would like to see an adapted or specialist version of any content please consult the Librarian for Online Programmes and we can work together to satisfy your requirements.
Library alerts and news is available from the homepage or Alerts and New Resources area of the Library for Online Programmes, you can also see links to the regular newsletter for staff and students and the Library's new trials/subscriptions blog. Online programmes Library alerts/updates are also provided on Twitter, see the Librarian's contact page for details. A regular committees report is distributed to online stakeholders and committees, you can see all Library reports for staff on the Library for Online Programmes SharePoint site.
Staff employed directly by the University should be provided with borrowing instructions and an ID card during normal entry to teachig at the University. Instructors who work with our external E-Learning partner, are resident in the UK and have Recognised Teacher status (Honorary membership of the University) can borrow physical items from the University on-campus libraries, these staff can request Associate Library membership, for help on borrowing for online staff, students and alumni please see the Campus Libraries page .
For further advice on issues such as linking to E-Resources or Library Web pages, please see tabs above, or to discuss any issues or support needs with the E-Learning Librarian via E-mail, Skype, telephone, Web session please see the Librarian's contact details.
The University provides access to approx. 200,000 electronic books via a range of commercial licenses, including E-Books which have been purchased as stand-alone items and subscriptions for large e-book collections.
E-Books are published in a range of collections and databases, however, all E-Books can be searched/accessed centrally via our main Library Search platform, you can find links and tools to search these platforms on the Library for Online Programmes homepage and E-Books page.
You can use our main Library Search platform to limit your search to E-Books, search by title (rather than keywords) or limit to non-restricted E-Books (non-DRM/ digital rights managed books), search by author or ISBN.
E-Books are also available via Open Access research repositories hosted by Universities and via other ‘free’ academic s sources, these provide quality materials, but can provide less reliable linking options than books in commercially subscribed collections. Staff may wish to include links to these sources as recommended items, but not as required reading.
You are advised to avoid hand-edited linking to E-Resources if possible, please use our Reading Lists @ Liverpool platform for linking to E-Books and E-Journal sources lincensed by the Library. For advice on linking to resources please contact the Online Librarian.
E-Book access falls into two categories, those with Digital Rights Management (DRM) restrictions and those without.
E-Books without DRM (in collections such as Springer, Knovel, Cambridge) can typically be downloaded in PDF (or other formats such as DOC, HTML).
E-Book collections with DRM (such as E-Book Central, EBSCO) can typically be viewed on the provider’s Web site, and cannot be fully downloaded or printed, in these cases the user must usually remain connected online to the provider’s Web site whilst reading the E-Book. Downloading can be avaialble but usually requires installing the book in a DRM application such as Adobe Digital Editions.
You can see full table of E-Book providers (with print/download restrictions) at the end of this document.
When selecting e-books please be particularly aware of the following DRM (Digital Rights Managed) E-Book collections:
You should consider the implications when selecting DRM E-Books from these sources, these can present usability issues for some students and may be unsuitable as core/ required texts for substantive use across programmes/modules.
The Library for Online Programmes includes several options to limit searching to non-DRM E-Books, see the E-Resources area then click the E-Books tab.
Where possible, staff should consider E-Books which do not have restrictions on downloading or printing for use of core texts.
You may be able to view DRM restrictions for a specific book by viewing its page in our main LIbrary Search platform, or you may need to visit the book to view its full details within the online publisher or supplier. Please contact the Online Librarian for advice.
E-Texbooks are a model of purchasing E-Books, the book is specifically purchased with a code for an identified user.
Some campus managed programmes use E-Textbook platforms (Kortext and BibliU), these may be shown in our main Library Search, however these should only be listed on Reading Lists for programmes specified for these books.
E-Textbooks (per-user licsensed E-Books) may be available via our external E-Learning partner(s) for example, via the 'Vital Source' platform, to discuss this issue further please contact the Online Librarian or your academic/ development lead within your partnership organisation.
A few E-Books in collections are purchased at the point of use. The Library has indicated that DDA items are usable for online programmes.
Perlego is a commercial provider of E-Books, selling direct to students. Links to Perlego are integrated into some Reading Lists @ Liverpool. The library does not expect students to buy their own books. Subscribing to Perlego to access E-Books is an additional option (similar to purchasing print copies from our campus bookstore).
The table below illustrates any restrictions within major E-Book collections, including restrictions on the ability to save the E-Book to the users’ computer (e.g. in PDF format), print the E-Book or requirement to view the E-Book within the provider’s Web site.
Note - other major E-Book collections not shown here such as Springer, Cambridge, Knovel, Morgan and Claypool, Oxtord etc. do not include DRM restrictions or limit concurrent usage (number of users who can access the E-Book at any time). The majority of licensing for the above collections are 'with purchase' or provide reliable long-term subscription meaning these are reliable for use in reading lists.
|
Collection |
Subject Area |
Download option |
Copying text, printing, downloading pages (in PDF) |
Online viewing options |
Notes |
|
E-Book Central |
All subjects |
Books are available to download in ACSM format for viewing in Adobe Digital Editions, user is prompted to install unless already installed. The download version can be selected for up to 21 days before expiry. |
The online or downloaded version (in Adobe Digital Editions) allows for copying text. A specific number of pages (approx 1/3 of the document) can be printed (necessary to print specific pages/page range). The online version also provided a PDF icon to save by chapter in unrestricted PDF format. |
Online version can be viewed/ navigated within the vendor’s Web site (see left column for features).
|
The platform allows downloading in unrestricted PDF format where chapters are downloaded individually using a PDF icon in the online viewer. This collection includes some titles which are 'with purchase' and many which are 'with subscription', these may be removed by the publisher at any time, this should not be a problem as long as subscription books are listed in 'ReadingLists @ Liverpool'. |
| EBSCO E-Books | All subjects | EBSCO E-Books have DRM, some are normal PDFs. DRM books provide an ACSM version requiring use of Adobe Digital Editions. A registration for a personal EBSCO account is also required. | No copy/paste option available. | None available. | For accessibility support please contact the Online Librarian. |
|
Google Books |
All subjects |
Not Downloadable unless released by publisher or out of copyright. |
Not printable unless released by publisher or out of copyright. |
Must be viewed within Web site, unless released by publisher or out of copyright. |
Most commercial (‘preview’ texts) will have random pages or sections missing. This is a system outside Uol control (part of Google search engine/services) and cannot be relied on for reading lists. |
|
Taylor & Francis |
All subjects |
75% are downloadable as PDF without restrictions. |
75% are printable as PDF without restrictions. |
25% have DRM |
Around 25% have a 1 user concurrent license. All items are purchased, so provide reliable access for readlng lists, however, you are advised to check individual concurrent usage restrictions before adding to required reading lists. |
You are strongly advised to consult the Librarian when developing new reading lists, you should use our ReadingLists@Liverpool platform to allow for embedding references from databases/ Library systems, ensure lists can be made accessible to students and integrated into the learning platform. Use of the reading lists platform will assist in long term management of lists and resolving linking issues for E-Resources.
Please see the ReadingLists@Liverpool page for further details.
The Librarian can also advise on any technical issues for particular collections/ databases, assist in creating direct links, advise on any DRM issues or provide alternative suggestions available in UoL subscriptions. You are also advised to consult the Librarian regularly when maintaining modules to discuss any reading lists, thus ensuring the list is up to date with working URLs etc.
Detailed advice on requests for purchasing new/ original E-Resources (E-Books, databases etc.) within the contexts of our E-Learning partnership programmes is shown in the 'Policies, Guides and Reports' (left menu area) of the Library for Online Programmes SharePoint site, the guidance may also be shown in other SharePoint sites available to online staff (this includes a detailed workflow for review of new and existing module-based reading lists).
Any requests for purchasing should be discussed at Board of Studies or other relvant fora/ communications channel for the relevant programme area, exploring the parameters of the immediate need if present, benefit to online students (and potentially for the wider campus) and considering cost implications (the E-Learning Librarian can review potential supply options).
If the request is deemed suitable for raising with the University Library within the partnership agreement, a programme representative should liaise with the E-Learning Librarian to make the request, providing relevant citation details.
For any queries on original purchasing please contact the E-Learning Librarian.
For any campus-managed programme request for new E-Resources such as E-Books, databases etc. it is possible to use standard Library E-Resource processes, these include requests via the Reading Lists platform or discussion with relevant faculty/ school Liaison Librarians, if you wish to discuss any online resources further you can contact the E-Learning Librarian.
Academic staff and programme developers are strongly recommended to use our reading list platform for efficient long-term management of readings, use of the reading list platform allows you to quickly add readings directly from your Web browser (browser plugin) or from key Library platforms, this can also assist in maintaining links to E-Resources.
If you need to manually add a link in your reading list, embed a link in an online module or share a link via email or other media, please see the following general advice.
Databases often display E-Resources using a complex URL in your Web browser address bar, this URL can include temporary data related to your browsing session. These URLs may function only during your current browsing session or may appear stable if used later, but can change over time, especially following a system upgrade. If you copy & paste URLs from the address bar for database results/records, these may not be stable, so you are advised to check these periodically to ensure these remain usable.
See the Apps area for tools to create links to E-Resources. Unfortunately there is no single guaranteed method to ensure links remain stable permanently, for use of links in reading lists please consider use of our ReadingLists @ Liverpool platform.
You can contact the Online Librarian - providing personal guidance/consultations via email, telephone, Skype/Web session on a range of Library, referencing, reference management applications and other Library issues.
You can book a personal Library consultation (via Teams, Skype, Tel) with the online Librarian, Dr Paul Catherall (available approx. 9am - 5pm GMT/BST) weekdays) to discuss any issues you have using the Library, or any of Library/related topic.
For online Library tutorials see the Training area.
For our KnowHow Library, research and study skills schedule, video tutorials, past recordings and other training resources such as LinkedIn Learning, see Webinars and sessions.
The Librarian can also provide support/ presentations for residencies on-campus, please contact to discuss.
For any discussion on programmes or module development, reading lists (including the ReadlingLists@Liverpool platform), please contact the Librarian:
Dr Paul Catherall FHEA
E-Learning Librarian, Libraries, Museums and Galleries
p.catherall@liverpool.ac.uk
UK: 0151 794 4345 | International: +44 (0) 151 794 4345 | Mobile: 0780710 6836
The Library provides a range of support, including 24/7 and online/Skype based consultations/ tutorials for students (and staff), options include -
Short Guide to the Library for Online Programmes (PDF format)
The Library for Online Programmes Web pages serve a range of Online Programmes within the University of Liverpool, staff may wish to create hyperlinks to individual Library Web pages or associated content from platforms such as online modules or other Web locations.
If you browse to an individual Web page, guidelines, online tutorial or video contained in the Library for Online Programmes Web pages you will see the current URL for this content in the address bar of your Web browser, e.g.:
https://libguides.liverpool.ac.uk/c.php?g=673263&p=4800437
You should avoid adding a direct link to these URLs in online modules or student literature which are updated infrequently, because the location of University Web pages and associated content can change over time. Instead, we ask you to add Persistent URLs to ensure these links continue to work in the long term.
Persistent URLs are typically shown in the left menu of each Web page in the Library for Online Programmes, you may also see options to embed some page content (display inner page within an external Web site or online module):
Persistent URLs have two parts, the initial address we are requesting, and the actual destination URL which in this case is the Library Web page/ content, e.g.:
http://s.liv.ac.uk/512 resolves http://libguides.liverpool.ac.uk/online
The destination of the Persistent URL can be updated by our staff if the location of a Web page/ content is moved or updated.
If you would prefer not to display the Persistent URLs for presentation purposes, you can also display the link as hyperlinked text, e.g.: The Library for Online Programmes, this is particularly useful in guidelines for condensing the volume of text shown, i.e. instead of presenting as: The Library for Online Programmes http://s.liv.ac.uk/512
There may be cases when it is unnecessary to add Persistent Links, i.e. when you may simply want to copy and paste the current URL of a Web page/content, this may arise in informal circumstances and communications:
See the Index of Persistent URLs tab above for a list of all persistent URLs to Library Web pages, training materials and guidelines.
Please note that the use of Persistent URLs linking to Library Web Pages or content such as Library videos is a separate process to the use of direct links for E-Resources such as E-Journal articles or E-Books. To learn about linking to E-Resources please see the 'Permalinks' tab above.
Most Web pages and training materials, quizzes etc. shown on this Web site provide a perma link (in the format https://s.liv.ac.uk), these should be used for linking direct to library resources/ Web pages to avoid broken links in the future.
The Librarian for Online Programmes (E-Learning Librarian) provides a range of service updates, system alerts and liaison for academic teams, programme developers and students -
If you would like to discuss any fo the above channels, please contact the Librarian.
Original digitization supplied by the Library is possible for 10% or a chapter for textbooks (whichever is greater). Digitization is not possible for an entire text. Digitization derived from a specific text is available per module (meaning it is not possible to perform multiple digitizations across the same module).
This service is only available where there is no possibility of supply via licensed other online/ digital media options, it is necessary to review potential digital options before requesting digitization, this may include reviewing current Library holdings, reviewing any etextbook options (Kortext for campus managed online programmes or Vital Source for KOL facilitated programmes) or related options.
The digitization service can be discussed with the online Librarian following review of usual digital licensing options.
The University of Liverpool has launched the Outputs Development Hub to support research staff across all stages of creating research outputs. The Hub provides guidance on planning, writing, publishing, and dissemination, with resources on REF, impact, non-traditional outputs, and career progression. It also signposts internal and external training opportunities.
