A guide to using Reading Lists @ Gold for students at Goldsmiths, University of London

1. Getting the Most out of your
Online Reading List
A Guide for Students at Goldsmiths, University of London

2. Finding your list
We advise academics to link to lists through the VLE. If you can’t find it
there:
1. Go to Readinglists.gold.ac.uk and login using your Goldsmiths
Username and Password
2. Type in the module title – if that doesn’t work try the module code
3. If nothing comes up talk to your lecturer – the list may not be on
the system

3. Skip to the Section you want
Depending on the subject some lists can be quite long. Rather than scroll
down you can open the ‘Table of Contents’ and select the section you want

4. Accessing Online Resources
We try to acquire all materials marked as essential in electronic format. This isn’t always possible but where we
have online access to at least a chapter you should see the blue ‘Online Resource’ button.
If you can’t access something via the Online Resource link please drop us a line at Readinglists@gold.ac.uk and
let us know

5. Finding your scan
When we can’t get an full online access to an essential reading we will ask your lecturer for the key chapter and (if the
copyright isn’t restricted) we’ll scan that.
You can find scans by clicking on the Online Resource button. Scans are only visible once you’ve logged in. If you don’t
immediately see one look for a message at the bottom of the screen telling you to log in to view digitised content.

6. Create a collection of Reading Lists
• If you’re logged in you will see a button saying ‘Add
to My Lists’ in the top right hand corner of your
list.
• Press this and the list you’re looking at will be
added to your ‘My Lists’ tab for easy access in
future.

7. Keep track of what you’re reading
If you’re logged in you see you have the
option to mark ‘read status’ on the right
hand side of individual items on your list.
This will let you remind yourself which
books you:
• ‘Have read’
• Are ‘Reading now’
• Have decided you ‘Will read’
• Have decided you ‘Won’t read’
A coloured flag will then appear for you on
the list so you can easily check this on your
list in future.

8. Putting notes on items on your list
Beside the ‘Read Status’ menu there is an ‘Add note’
button which will let you put a study note on an
item.
Pressing this open a pop-up text box where you can
write a note – it will only be visible to you.
Any items you put a note on will automatically be
saved to your ‘My Bookmarks’ tab. Notes are also
saved to your profile.

9. Filtering and Reordering the full list
By default your list will appear grouped
in the sections assigned by your
lecturer. However you can use the
Grouping and Filtering options on your
list to:
• Group by Importance
This will let you view the list according to which items are
essential and which are recommended etc.
• Group by Type
This will let you view the list according this what items are – so
you can just look at books or articles or videos etc.
• Filter by Author
This will help you quickly relocate items you already
know appear on the list.
• Filter to Online Resources
This is particularly helpful if you are off-campus and
are looking for resources you can access remotely.
All of these options are on the top right
hand corner of your list, below the ‘Add
to My Lists’ button

10. Converting your list into a Bibliography
Converting your list into a
bibliography is relatively simple.
• Press the ‘View Bibliography’ button – it
is right underneath the list title.
• A bibliography will be generated – it will
be in Harvard format by default but you
can change this.
• Check chapter references – we
sometimes edit these to make lists
easier to use so duplicate information
may need to be deleted.

11. Exporting lists for referencing
In both the normal list and the bibliography view
you have an ‘Export’ menu.
If you open this you will be given various options for
exporting your list:
• Export citations
This will let you export the list to referencing tools like Endnote and
Zotero via a .RIS file. We recommend googling guidance on
importing .RIS files to the referencing tool you use.
• Export to Refworks
This allows you to export the list to Refworks
• Export to CSV
This allows you to export the list as a spreadsheet for Excel
• Export to PDF
This will export the list as you see it on the screen into a PDF –
when exporting from the normal list view it will include any private
study notes you’ve added

12. Creating a collection of bookmarks
As we’ve already mentioned, any item’s you put a
note on get added to your bookmark library.
You can also do this by opening an item and
pressing ‘Add to My Bookmarks’
It will then be accessible in your ‘My Bookmarks’
tab
In the ‘My Bookmarks’ tab under ‘Add’ you can
also use the ‘Quick add book’ tool to find and
add books which aren’t on your reading list.
Simply type in the author, title or ISBN and see
what comes up.

13. Exporting saved bookmarks for referencing
There are two steps to exporting items from the
‘My Bookmarks’ tab as references
1. Select the items you want to export (you can
select all using the check box at the top)
2. Go to the ‘Action’ Menu and select ‘Export
citations’ or ‘Export to RefWorks’
The ‘Action’ menu also gives you the option of
removing items from the ‘My Bookmarks’ tab.

14. Thank You for Reading
If you have any questions about the content of your list, the best person to speak to is your
lecturer.
If you have any questions or feedback about using Reading Lists @ Gold as a system contact
us at readinglists@gold.ac.uk and we will do our best to help.
If you are having trouble accessing a specific item on your reading list why not contact us on
LibChat http://libanswers.gold.ac.uk/search.php and we’ll see what we can do to help .