The Albert Sloman Library

Interpreting reading lists

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Finding specific materials

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Reading lists in the Course Materials Repository

For each module which you are studying you will probably be given a reading list by your tutor. The Library asks all academic departments to send copies of reading lists to the Library before the start of term so that we can ensure that all recommended reading is available from the shelves or online. The Library also provides a database of reading lists through the Course Materials Repository. Under each course, there is a link to the "Online reading list from the Library". Next to each item on the list, there is a classmark link which will take you to the relevant record for that book, journal, journal article, DVD etc. in the Library. Where we have been unable to get hold of recommended reading, for example, because it is out of print, this information will also be included on the list.

Searching the Library catalogue for items on reading lists

If your reading list has not been received by the Library, or you want to search the catalogue for a specific item on a reading list yourself, you need to know what kind of material you are looking for. Books and journal articles are usually referenced in a particular way on reading lists and in bibliographies. The reference should give you all the information you need to search for the item in the Library. For example, a reference to a book will probably look like this:

A Badger, The New Deal: The Depression Years, 1933-1940 (London, Macmillan, 1989)

To find this book in the Library, you could do an Author search for "badger a" or a Title search for "new deal the depression years". You do not need to include capital letters or punctuation, or initial articles (such as a, an or the) but when searching for authors you need to put the surname first.

References to journal articles usually include some extra pieces of information, such as the volume of the journal and the page numbers of the article:

Shoemaker, Robert B. 'The taming of the duel: masculinity, honour and ritual violence in London, 1660-1800'. Historical Journal, 45 (2002), 525-45

To find this article in the Library, you could do a Title search for the title of the article, e.g. "taming of the duel". If the article is kept in the XD (photocopy) collection on the ground floor, you will find it by searching like this. However, for most journal articles you will need to search for the journal by title using the Periodical title search, e.g. "historical journal". In many cases you will find that the Library has access to the journal both in print and online. To find the journal on the shelves of the Library, make a note of the classmark and check the Holdings information in the catalogue to make sure that the Library holds the volume you need (e.g. Volume 45 from 2002 in the example above). Most volumes of journals are on the main shelves of the Library. To access the journal online, check the Holdings information and then click on the relevant link in the catalogue record, e.g. "view the full text on CJO : vol. 40- 1997-". You will need to enter your University username and password to get through to the online issues.

Abbreviations

Sometimes a reference to a journal article may include an abbreviation rather than the full title of the journal:

J. Adams and R. Brownsword, "The Unfair Contract Terms Act: A Decade of Discretion" (1988) 104 LQR 94

This is usually the way articles from Law journals are referenced. In this case you need to find out what LQR stands for before you can find the article. For many common abbreviations you can use the abbreviation to search by Periodical title in the catalogue and the record for the full title will be displayed. In other cases, you may need to use an index to legal abbreviations, whether printed or online. The volume number of the journal you would need for this example is 104, and the article begins on page 94.

Sometimes references to books can also be abbreviated. For example, you may come across Badger (1989) rather than the full details of the book. Where this is the case, the full details have usually been provided earlier in the list, so you may need to look back through to find the full reference.