Skip to Main Content

Reading lists: a guide for academics: Digitised content (scanned book chapters and papers)

IMPORTANT

All book chapters, journal articles/research papers and other published information sources which can be scanned, must be uploaded to units through Talis Aspire.

***Any published materials uploaded directly to Brightspace content areas may be in breach of current copyright law***

How to request a digitisation (video)

What our licence allows

Our licence from the Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA) enables us to scan journal articles and book chapters not otherwise available in digital format, but there are strict conditions that must be followed, such as:

  • The University must own a print copy of the original material. If the Library does not have an item in stock we will request it 'Copyright fee-paid' from the British Library. The charge for this service will be debited from the inter-library loan budget for your Faculty.
  • The original material must be published in a participating country. You can check these here.
There are limits on the amount that may be scanned - no more than 10% from a single published edition, or:
  • In the case of a book, one complete chapter.
  • In the case of a journal/set of conference proceedings, one whole article.
For further information on scanning and Brightspace, please refer to the guide Copyright & Brightspace FAQs (PDF).

How to request a digitisation (step-by-step instructions)


  1. Navigate to the item you would like scanned and digitised.
  2. Click on the three dots to open up the list of options and click 'Request Digitisation'.

  1. Complete the fields in the form with as many details as possible for library staff to identify the correct parts to scan and digitise.
  2. If the library doesn't have an item in stock it is possible to add your own scan. Upload the file here. Ordinarily the library will produce a scan once we have the item in stock, or a copyright-fee paid scan would be acquired from the British Library. Uploading your own scan is an option if it's needed on the reading list straight away.
  3. Scroll down and click 'Next' to continue.

  1. Complete the fields in this second form. Unlike in this example, the course details should be automatically pre-populated. If not, please provide the details.
  2. Click 'Next' to continue.

  1. Confirm your BU email address and your name.
  2. Click 'Next' to finish.

The library will be notified of your scan request. If you want your scanned chapter or article to be added to a specific part of your reading list, or to be marked as essential / recommended or optional reading, you can add a 'Note for library' to the item in the reading list. Library staff will follow those instructions when adding the scan to the list.