Library Resources for Staff

As a key part of UEL's Access Agreement and our commitment to students, we will provide one free core e-textbook per module, per student, for all eligible students.

E-textbooks are provided by Kortext for on campus undergraduate and PGCE students.  They are chosen each Spring by the module leader to be activated the next academic year.

For any KeyText enquires please email keytext@uel.ac.uk. 

For more information on how to access your KeyText via Moodle or adding your reading list to Moodle using our KeyLinks software, please see this information page.

Copyright is an important consideration when making learning materials available via Moodle.

Copyright material should only be added to Moodle if:

• You own the copyright in the material
• Copyright in the material has expired or is waived by the holder
• Reuse is allowed under an open licence e.g., Creative Commons, Open Government Licence
• The material has been scanned under one of UEL's blanket licences e.g., the CLA licence and the course is delivered exclusively to students registered in the UK. Links to scans should be added rather than the scans themselves.
• Permission has been granted directly from the rights holder
• Fair dealing exceptions apply e.g., illustration for instruction, and criticism, review or quotation

In all cases, full attribution/acknowledgement of the source should be given.

For more information on the Do's and Don'ts of uploading to Moodle, please see this information page.

It is important that all materials uploaded to Moodle or used in teaching comply with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act (1988).

There is a detailed information page here on our website to give you everything from the basics to re-using free content.

If you require a scan of an article or book chapter the Digitised Reading Service can provide a legal copy or link that you can then use on your Moodle site for teaching.

Details on what can be scanned and in what quantities are on our website here.

All enquiries about the DRS should be emailed to: digitised.reading.service@uel.ac.uk 

Open Educational Resources (OER) "are learning, teaching and research materials in any format and medium that reside in the public domain or are under copyright that have been released under an open license, that permit no-cost access, re-use, re-purpose, adaptation and redistribution by others." (UNESCO, 2025)

In practice, they can be books, journals, websites, videos, blogs, podcasts or anything that instructs students and is freely available for sharing.  Chapters or articles from various OERs can be combined to create a single bespoke resource, suitable for the teaching of a particular subject.  Academics can also author their own open texts, articles or chapters to enhance their own professional reputations.

OERs also have the advantage of being completely free to use and re-use, unlike traditional books and journals.

For more information on using OERs, please contact your subject librarian.

For more information on creating your own OER, please see this advice toolkit.

Good places to search for OERs:

UEL Library, Archives and Learning Services are committed to working with staff and students across the university in supporting, promoting and facilitating inclusive practices in teaching, learning and research.  ​

We seek to develop our collections in a way that better reflects global knowledge creation, ensuring the collection more extensively reflects the theories, thinkers and ideas from the global South and away from one dominated by the global North and which privileges white, Western, and Eurocentric intellectual thought.

Ensuring our libraries provide a safe, welcoming and inspiring environment for our diverse population of users is also at the heart of a service that ensures it provides an inclusive space for all. As well as developing our collections we will continue to reflect on the library space and ensure that it is an inclusive space where everyone feels safe, working with staff and students as well as critically reflecting on how users interact with the spaces provided.

We commit to ensuring a welcoming, diverse and inclusive educational experience by:

• Collaborating with academic colleagues and students across all departments to address the lack of representation of the theories, thinkers and ideas from the global South in the curriculum, and seek to address the lack of representation in the acquisition of learning and teaching resources.

• Collaborating with teaching staff to create decolonised and inclusive Reading Lists that elevate the voices of the global South and better represent the identities and experiences of our student body.

• Supporting reading groups, such as Many Voices, designed to help students think more critically about theories on race to inform their knowledge about social justice.

• Contributing to institution-wide work on eliminating the degree awarding gap through implementation of targeted interventions (e.g., skills sessions, anti-racism workshops) as required.

• Critically reflecting on services and spaces in collaboration with our students and co-develop an environment that is inclusive, welcoming and inspiring for all of our users.

Finding texts on decolo​niality and anti-racism​

We are building a collection of resources, discoverable through our Library catalogue, that connect students to books on decolonisation and anti-racism across all subject areas. The collection is constantly growing and developing, and we encourage staff and students to engage with the collection and help us to develop and promote it.  If you have any suggestions, please contact your Subject Librarian. 

The collection is available here.​