Sharing a library with colleagues

A shared library is a collection of library items that a group of colleagues builds together, such as a department’s starters or a year team’s exit tickets. Everyone in it can use what’s there and add their own.

When to use it: Your department wants one place for the sessions and questions you all reuse, rather than each of you sending links around.

Only teachers can see shared libraries. Students never see them, or anything in them, including answer keys.

New to the Library? Start with saving and sharing sessions in the Library, which covers saving a session as a library item.

Make a shared library

1. Open Library in the sidebar and choose the Shared libraries tab.
2. Choose New shared library.
3. Give it a Name, such as “Year 9 Maths”, and, if you like, a description of who it’s for and what goes in it.
4. Under Who can find it, choose:
   • Members only: only the people you add can see it.
   • Anyone at my organisation: any teacher at your school can find it and join it.
5. Choose Create shared library.

If Anyone at my organisation is greyed out, your account isn’t linked to your school’s organisation yet. Contact your Nurture team and they’ll set it up.

It appears on your Shared libraries tab with how many items and people are in it. You’re its Manager.

Add your colleagues

1. Open the shared library and choose People.
2. Enter their Name and Email. They must be at your school, with an email address at your school’s domain.
3. Choose a Role:
   • Member: uses items and adds their own.
   • Manager: also manages people and removes items.
4. Choose Add teacher, then add anyone else, and choose Done.

No email is sent. The library appears in their Library the next time they sign in, so let them know it’s there.

Share a session into it

1. Open the My library tab.
2. Open the three dots menu on the library item you want to share.
3. Choose Shared libraries and tick the shared library (or several).
4. Choose Done.

The item is then in the shared library for everyone in it. Anyone in the library can do the same with their own items.

Using a shared library

Your colleagues find it on their Shared libraries tab.

They open it, find the item they want and use it to start a fresh session, just as they would with one of their own. What they run is their own copy, so nothing they change affects the library item or anyone else.

A library open to Anyone at my organisation that you’re not in yet is listed under Open to everyone at your school’s domain, with a Join button.

Change or delete it

Managers can choose Edit on the shared library to rename it, change its description or change who can find it, and delete it from the same place. Managers can also remove items and people, and change someone’s role.

Tips

• Name it for who it’s for. “Year 9 Maths” or “Science department” tells colleagues straight away whether it’s theirs.
• Describe what goes in it. A line such as “Starters and exit tickets for the Year 9 team” keeps a shared library from becoming a dumping ground.
• Have more than one manager. If the only manager moves on, nobody can add people or tidy up.