Getting to know the DCS - my tips for learning

I joined CLA in November 2017 as a Customer Support Advisor. My role includes answering support queries regarding the Digital Content Store (DCS), and so naturally my first few weeks were spent learning not only about CLA’s Higher Education Licence but also how the DCS works! I found the combination of short training sessions with colleagues and studying of the DCS Knowledgebase to be very useful; hopefully you’ll find this blog of my learning experience helpful in planning any future training sessions you might hold!

If you are training a new member of staff – or maybe just feel like you could use some training yourself! – I would recommend starting  by going  through the system without too much detail at first. Start by simply explaining what it is that you use the system for, that you can use the DCS to create and distribute links, make EHESS orders, handle academic requests etc, to give them an idea of what uses the DCS fulfils for your institution. If you’re looking to give new users a really clear explanation of what the DCS can do, our fun and engaging Meet the Digital Content Store video can be a great tool. You can find the video and more basic information on the system on our dedicated DCS page on our website.

You might then want to take them through what the DCS allows you to do, for example, by briefly explaining the dashboard and the various tabs available:

Following this intro session, they can have a look at the Knowledgebase to get some more in-depth information. I personally found this very useful before starting to do my own testing in the DCS Demo environment.

At the time of writing this article, there are 62 articles in the Knowledgebase. The most relevant sections for people who are new to the system would be Using the DCS, Courses and Content. And of course, as you’ll want your members of staff to comply with the Licence, directing them to the section about the Licence might be a good idea, too.

If you want a complete list of all the articles that might be helpful for newcomers, I would recommend they have a look at the following:

• Book Requests: This article takes you through all the steps needed to create a new book request in the DCS   
• Journal Article Requests: This article does the same as the above, only for Journal Article requests
• Active Requests: This article explains the function of active requests
• Uploading your own scan: This article takes you through how to add your own scan to the DCS  
• Links: After learning how to create a request, understanding the use of links is the next step
• Amending and Deleting content: New as well as old DCS users will at some point make a mistake. This is when this article will come in handy …
• Amend Content Details After Publishing Link: …and so will this! Here’s a guide on how to change certain details yourself without having to email CLA.
• Ownership: This article details what the different options mean in the ‘Ownership’ section of the requests
• Licence checks: And this one describes how the licence checks work from within a request
• Using The Student Reader (and in Welsh!)
• Check Permissions in the DCS: This guide offers an explanation of the different permissions results you might see when searching for material in the DCS
• Copyright Notices: This is a brief, but useful, article explaining the use of the copyright notices (cover sheets)
• Making an EHESS order and Making an asynchronous EHESS order: These may be good to have as guides before making one’s first EHESS order

Depending on your colleague’s responsibilities and need to use the DCS, they might not need to read all 62 articles in their first week! I personally found the above list a good starting point.

It can be difficult to make sense of a brand new product by just reading about it, and some might find it useful to check out old webinar recordings. On this page you can find links to our most recent webinars – please feel free to email us if you want access to older webinars.

With all this new knowledge, hopefully your colleague is now keen on trying out the DCS! In my first few weeks I spent a lot of time adding test requests in the DCS Demo environment. I would recommend that you give any new staff access to the Demo environment where they can figure the system out by trial and error. They can use the Knowledgebase articles as guides when they practice creating, amending and deleting requests.

Lastly, I found that learning from my colleagues, hearing their tips and tricks, gave me fresh insights into using the DCS in more efficient and effective ways. We’ve always tried to build a strong and open community for the DCS, where users can share their best practice tips with one another – learning from one another is such a crucial element of getting the most out of the platform. One place that we’ve collected and curated some great user experiences is our Higher Education blog, where we feature guest posts on how different institutions use the DCS. Why not have a read of some of these fantastic guest blogs, as you might learn a new technique from a colleague in a different institution or perhaps discover a more efficient method to implement into your workflow. We’re always looking for guest writers to talk about their DCS experiences, so if you would like to share your knowledge, please get in touch.

And of course – we are always here to answer any questions you or your new colleagues might have – get in touch with us at any time!

Have you trained new colleagues in using the platform and have some training tips of your own? Let us know in the comments below. If you’d like to write a guest blog about how you train others in using the Digital Content Store – contact our blog editor.

About the Author

Marte started at CLA in November 2017 as a Customer Support Advisor. She graduated from City, University of London in 2017 and worked for Booking.com before starting at CLA.