Reading lists

Inputting Support:

Need help populating your reading list? Interested in migrating your list from elsewhere onto Talis Aspire Read more about our inputting service.

Information and guidance for academic staff

To facilitate resilience of our teaching and support for students, all reading lists should be submitted online using the Talis Aspire system, and all essential and recommended readings should be available electronically – either as e-books, e-journal articles or copyright-cleared chapter/article scans (where possible).

The Talis Aspire Reading List system enables you to create dynamic reading lists for your students, providing them with direct links to all their required reading materials. Using Talis Aspire for your reading lists will improve the visibility of lists for students and provide a consistent approach across modules. Your published lists will also be checked by the Library, allowing them to provide access to the materials and resources your students need.

2026 to 2027: Action required

The deadline for submitting Term 1 reading lists for 2026 to 2027 was 31 July, 2026, however we are still accepting lists! Please submit your lists by publishing them as soon as possible:

The My Lists page should display all reading lists which have been assigned to you in Talis Aspire.
Please check any unpublished lists you may have for 2026 to 2027, make any changes, and publish them by the recommended deadline or as soon as possible.
Publishing ensures your list is visible to students and will alert the Library of your changes.
- You can make further edits at any time, even after the list is initially published.
- Every time you publish new changes to the list, these changes become visible to students and the Library is alerted so that they can take any required action.

Please note: The Library will still check lists received after the recommended deadlines for each term, but due to the workload involved they may not be able to ensure that all new or additional resources will be available in time for the start of teaching.

Please contact if any of the following apply:

Your module reading list is not showing in your My Lists page.
A list assigned to you is not running in the current cycle, or is no longer needed.
You are no longer the lead for a module reading list.

New bookmarking workflow

On 12 January 2026, a new bookmarking workflow was rolled out to all Talis users. This is the process by which users create new bookmarks (from the Library Catalogue or the web) to populate their reading lists. The Reading List Team has been testing this for several months and have found the new workflow to be very user friendly and a huge improvement on the previous method.

This new workflow will overwrite the old one, meaning existing users do not need to reinstall, update or install a new bookmarking extension.
After pressing the bookmarking extension button, users are now shown a preview of what the bookmark will look like:

Preview Bookman from Summon Search Result

Users can then Save in My Bookmarks or Edit resource (via the usual edit metadata view), if needed.

The edit metadata view has also had a refurb with the option to use the Lookup feature now in a banner along the very top and with all the different fields users can add to the metadata appearing as buttons on the right-hand side of the screen.

The different categories of fields within the metadata now appear grouped together nicely (for example “Contributors”, “Identifiers”, in the image below):

Now when users press Save to My Bookmarks, they are then shown a confirmation that the bookmark has successfully been created, as well as the option to add the bookmark to one of their saved lists on the right side of the screen.

A view of the Bookmark Created screen where you can also add the bookmark to a reading list

Once a list has been selected onto which to add the bookmark, users are shown the usual options regarding reading importance and positioning on the list.

A view of the Add Additional Information screen for adding the bookmark to a reading list

As before, once the bookmark is saved, users still have the option of adding it to their lists manually in the desired location at a later time.

If you’d like to know more, Talis has written a useful support article about the new workflow. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the Library Reading List Team.

How the Library can help you?

Assist with the setup of your reading lists on Aspire.
Check for availability of e-books and most recent editions of key readings.
Digitise book chapters or journal articles as required.
Provide full training and ongoing support.
Support with list inputting in certain circumstances.

For more information on how the Library can help you with your reading lists, please click here.

Quick start videos

A collection of short videos aimed at guiding users through the basics of using Talis Aspire for their reading lists.

Getting started

This video explains how to login and setup your profile on the Talis Aspire platform.

For more detail, please see the written guide on this topic.

Finding or creating a reading list

This video explains how to search for an existing reading list or set up a new draft.

For more detail, please see the written guide on this topic.

Installing the bookmarking extension

This video explains how to download and install the Talis Aspire bookmarking extension on your browser of choice. The bookmarking extension makes creating bookmarks for your reading lists easy with just a few clicks!

For more detail, please see the written guide on this topic.

Bookmarking whole books and chapters

This video explains how to bookmark entire books or select chapters to your reading list to ensure your students read the most relevant content.

For more detail, please see the written guide on this topic.

Bookmarking articles, journals and websites

This video explains how to bookmark other popular resource types to your reading list.

For more detail, please see the written guide on this topic.

Bookmarking items not in Library holdings

This video explains how you can create bookmarks for resources not in stock in the Library. The easiest way to request that the Library acquire new material to support your teaching is to bookmark them to your reading list!

For more detail, please see the written guide on this topic.

Formatting your reading list

This video explores the different formatting options available to help structure your list and make it easy to navigate.

For more detail, please see the written guide on this topic.

Requesting digitisations (scans)

This video explains the straight-forward process for requesting scans of items on your reading list.

For more details, please see the written guide on this topic.

Linking your list to the VLE (Moodle & MyWBS)

This video explains how you can integrate your reading list into your module VLE either by linking the list or embedding it within the page.

For more details, please see the written guide on this topic.

Publishing and maintaining your reading list

This video offers advice on how and when to publish your reading list, how to edit it at any time, as well as best practices to maintain it moving forward.

For more details, please see the written guide on this topic.

Are there any other reading list topics that you would like to see covered in the quick start videos? Let us know at

Training

Contact us at to arrange 1:1 or group/departmental training - either in person in the Library, in your office/department, or via Microsoft Teams call. Alternately, your Research & Academic Support Librarian can also offer further help and advice.

For more information on how the Library can help you with your reading lists, please click here.

Benefits of using Talis Aspire

A large proportion of peer universities have already adopted Talis for all reading lists and just over 60% of module leaders here at Warwick already use it. We also know that many students prefer using Talis Aspire to support their learning experience.

Benefits for academic staff

One port of call to notify the Library and request reading list items, including scanned material
Simple to create, manage and edit your lists
Flexibility in your list structure
Allows you to link to any type of resource
Share your list easily with students
Reading list dashboard allows you to track engagement with your list
Integrates with Moodle or your module website
Linking resources via Talis means usage stats which inform retention/cancellations are accurately captured

Benefits for your students

Provides them with direct links to reading material
Clear guidance on reading expectations and importance
Ability to add their own notes and prioritise reading
Consistent experience across modules
Frees time for independent searching
Readings are available in the right quantities

Access Reading lists system (Talis Aspire)

Quick start videos & written guides

Training and support

Reading lists timeline and lifecycle

Reading lists strategy

Best practices

Scans for Reading lists

FAQs

Myths and misconceptions

How we communicate with you - coming soon!

Need inspiration? - coming soon!