Cultural Advice
Aboriginal Peoples are advised the Library Collection contains images, voices and names of deceased people in physical and online resources.
The Library recognises the significance of the traditional cultural knowledges contained within its Collection. The Library acknowledge some materials contain language that may not reflect current attitudes, was published without consent or recognition, or, is offensive. These materials reflect the views of the authors and/or the period in which they were produced and do not represent the views of the Library.
For more information and support, contact Ask the Library.
Curriculum support
The Library can help you find relevant resources, use eReadings, find open education resources, advise on eTextbooks, support program evaluation reviews and new program and course compliance statements.
The Library doesn't have what you are looking for?
Finding Resources for Teaching
The Library can work with course coordinators during course development and refresh cycles to identify various potential resources for use in teaching. For example, we can assist in sourcing:
- Whole volumes (textbooks / reference texts);
- eReadings (articles, news or book chapters);
- Open Educational Resources;
- Interactive learning objects and Simulations; and
- Videos and media
The Library will undertake all resource identification work and send through a list of potential resources according to the course's learning objectives or weekly topics.
Teaching Guides
Our teaching guides provide information on the Library resources available for you to use. Here is a full list of our Teaching and Learning guides.
Embed Library Guides to your course page
Library subject guides assist students in finding information specific to their needs. Course Coordinators can easily embed an entire guide, a page (e.g. Assignment help), or a single box directly into their course site.
Benefits for students include:
- Ability to access and navigate relevant Library content within the course environment
- Increased awareness of Library resources that help with finding information for assignments
Detailed instructions on how to embed Library guide content are available via Ask LearnOnline. Library guides previously linked in course sites under Resources> Library guides have been automatically embedded.
Online Teaching Resources
Visit the Online Teaching Resources Guide to access subscribed AV and image collections available for use in course sites; platform-specific instruction on embedding and linking; and find the range of custom Library-made digital dexterity resources and support available.
Textbooks
It is not mandatory to set a textbook – but if one is assigned, it should be used extensively throughout the course. By assigning a textbook, students may be required to purchase the resource.
Library access to textbooks can be impacted by restrictive licensing from publishers. To minimise student expense and improve equity of access to education, UniSA courses are encouraged to adopt Open Educational Resources (OERs) or curated reading lists using open and flexibly-licensed Library resources in place of limited-licence textbooks. When a limited-licence textbook has been assigned for a course, the Library will purchase one licence (the least restrictive available) as a perpetual electronic purchase, per the UniSA Library collection policy. Library ebook copies may not include access to the textbook's supplementary instructor or student resources due to publisher restrictions.
Before setting a textbook for your course, it is strongly advised that you check with the Library for textbook availability, access limitations, and to arrange acquisition where possible. Use the form below to check your textbook now:
Check for Textbook Availability
Prefer to identify potential texts yourself? We’ve compiled a brief guide to help:
How to Find Flexibly Licensed Textbooks
Textbook minimisation
Between 2020 and 2022 the Library and TIU implemented a pilot project aimed to minimise course materials' cost to students. This activity was encapsulated in Action Item 2.7 of the University's Academic Enterprise Plan 2021-2025:
We will seek to minimise the number of textbooks students are required to purchase during their program of study by transitioning some courses from using traditional textbooks to high-quality research-driven resources.
The important initiative has to date saved our students a total of $9 million in textbook costs.
Under direction of the Academic Strategy, Standards and Quality Committee (ASSQC), the Library is now embedding the minimisation of student textbook costs as a 'business as usual' activity.
ASSQC recommendations
ASSQC has specifically endorsed the following recommendations:
- Deans of Programs continue to encourage Course Coordinators to contact the Library for assistance with finding unlimited user-license resources for their courses.
- The Library to engage with Teaching and Learning Strategy Groups (TLSG(s)) at Academic Unit level to identify when and how the Library could better contribute to the course amendment and development process.
- TLSG(s) to assume annual review responsibility for monitoring textbook costs in conjunction with the Library.
To learn more about the project and the recommendations please read the Minimising 'cost to student' course materials project final report.
We encourage individual course coordinators to self-nominate their courses for textbook minimisation. Please contact Ask the Library to discuss further.
Watch the video below (4:32) to hear student thoughts on textbooks, and get an overview of the project.
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Textbook Minimisation: What our academic staff are saying
Professor Craig Williams, Dean Programs: Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences
"The textbook minimisation project led by the UniSA Library is a fantastic initiative. Teaching curriculum, delivery modes and resources in higher education are constantly evolving. As such , the prescribing of a hard copy textbook that a student will carry around and have for years is becoming less common. Moving to portable, flexible, electronic resources is essential, and minimising textbook usage helps drive the development of new electronic resources.”
Maria Chilvers, Lecturer in Nursing
“Working with the UniSA Library, as part of the textbook minimisation project, we were able to conduct a comprehensive review of the textbooks and alternative resources available for the nursing program with the aim to reduce the overall cost of texts for students. We were able to reduce the financial burden for students significantly, and this was a really important outcome to promote equity and access for all students in the nursing program. In addition, we were able to comprehensively scrutinise the references and resources across the nursing program to identify the most appropriate and current references to improve the overall quality of the resources available for students.”
Dr Sam Tuttle, Lecturer: Applied Physics
“The textbook minimisation project is a great idea and approach to help reduce the cost of studying for students by reducing the number of textbooks that students need to buy. In place of textbooks, open access and other centrally licenced or free resources are provided to students to aid them with their studies. The library was very helpful in identifying suitable resources for a couple of more foundational physics courses, and we have now switched to using a free online textbook which the students really appreciate.”
Open Educational Resources
Open Education(al) Resources (OER) can be used freely by both educators and students, without any need to pay royalties or licence fees, creating a more equitable and inclusive learning environment.
Considering writing a textbook? UniSA is taking part in an Open Textbook Publishing Pilot through the CAUL OER Collective, providing staff with a platform to create or adapt a peer reviewed open textbook free of charge.
Visit our Open Educational Resources guide to learn about how to find, use, adapt and create Open Educational Resources.
eReadings
eReadings are online resources that make up a reading list for a specific course. They can include book chapters, journal articles, websites, streaming videos, and many other media. They can be natively digital or copied from a print resource.
All online readings containing copyright protected works should be registered in your reading list to ensure that the University does not breach copyright legislation. Please see our copyright page for more information.
eReadings modules are easily accessed and managed in your LearnOnline course site in the content box on the left.
The Course Readings Guide can help you compose a course reading list with step by step instructions.
The Digital Readings Service (DRS) supports the eReadings system by:
- Sourcing requested resources from the Library's collections and beyond
- Digitising print resources when appropriate
- Ensuring all readings are accessed in compliance with copyright law
