How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Leganto

Congratulations to Alana Mahon O'Neill from DCU Library whose blog post has achieved second place in the CONUL Training and Development Library Assistant Blog Awards 2025. 

I started working with the reading list application Leganto on the eve of teaching week, August 2024, at Dublin City University Library. Joining the project, I expected a roadmap. Instead, I got an adventure.

Leganto logo via Exlibris

I was handed three oversized workflow pages and a clutch of working Google Docs. Here I go, Theseus¹ entering Daedalus’ labyrinth.² From the outset I encountered muddling back-to-back requests for obscure Victorian children’s stories, history pamphlets published by county council offices circa 2006, and TG4 documentaries verging upon lost media. Broken website links were parsed with liberal use of the Wayback Machine, and multiple-user licenses were purchased for ebooks serving cohorts of several hundred students. Negotiations with academic lecturers ensued. Through heart-to-hearts with Subject Librarians and parlaying with the cataloguing department, I quickly discovered how a reading list ties together the foundations of a university library.

Mosaic depicting a labyrinth with Theseus and Minotaur emblem, from "House of the Labyrinth", Pompeii, Italy. Photographed and edited by Volker Michael Stroka and published in 1991 Hauser in Pompeii Volume 4 Casa del Labirinto (VI 11 8-10) via Wikimedia Commons. 

Leganto is an ever-shifting maze of developments and interface changes that induces a feeling akin to Jorge Luis Borges’ The Library of Babel.³ While the workflow is mapped by a set shape, the off-shooting paths feel like shifting sands. Walls slip, and the exit evades. Now, to get out. How do we manage purchase requests? Digital content store items? Out-of-print books? Why does it feel like whenever I narrow down a workflow, I need to go back and rewrite it all over again?

Reading list submissions for 2024-2025, from July 2024 to November 2024, peaking in August and September. Data and picture credit: author. 

These were the sort of questions I asked myself while I completed 51 reading lists for Semester 1 last year. Was I on top of things? No time. Here comes January. Go.

A little backstory–Leganto is a reading list application, part of the Ex Libris package. We invite lecturers to submit their reading lists so that it streamlines the ordering process for materials on the library side, while ensuring reading content is available and accessible. As the library can feel like a daunting place for incoming students, we try to meet them halfway, so that they do not get lost in the abyss.

Reading list numbers in total per university faculty. Data and picture credit: author. 

Daedalus⁴ , master of the labyrinth and careful design, would feel at home among the reading lists of Science and Health, where structure and references reign.

Humanities follows close behind.

Once we identify key texts, we streamline access from Leganto straight to the library catalogue, all with one click. This benefits us as it ensures library longevity, boosts the quality of our collections, and encourages student engagement. For lecturers, they can view student analytics that inform engagement and popular texts. For students, it makes life a little easier.

Our largest issue stems from content outside the collection–we cannot always catch broken links, and copyright-restricted material is not permitted. The way we work around this is by encouraging the “report broken link” button for students and ordering requested material for our lecturers. Even so, a completed reading list is deceptively simple. For a student, this is both their entrance into the underworld of research and a gateway into soon-to-be endless possibilities. I just hope that they slay their Minotaur by proxy of completing their academic journey and make it through to the other side.

How do we progress with this?

With rolled-over lists, we see the volume of incoming lists slow down, but we gain a bit more insight into what quality, high-demand resources are needed. Saying that, while popularity is key, we always try to get the latest edition and fresh material that will support our students.

What have I learned?

While I do not possess Ariadne's thread,⁵ used by Theseus to escape the labyrinth, I had the guiding principle⁶—move forward, but reflect. When encountering an issue, refer back to what worked and start again. We all use this methodology in creative problem-solving.

Illustration from the cover of Higgins, C. Red Thread (2018) by Charlotte Higgins via The Irish Times

Have I come to love Leganto?

Contrary to popular belief, I don’t see human beings and library software forming connections anytime soon. Saying that, after one year with Leganto, we have become reluctant friends. Somewhat. The application is ever changing, and our workflow has been rejigged several times since inception. Our next step is for near-total lecturer participation–easier said than done. I am making some YouTube videos. Fingers crossed.

My role is not over. Like Sisyphus, I roll the boulder to the top–only to let it drop with each new reading list. There is no thread uncut. We follow a workflow, place requests and organise lists. Even with academic immersion, we plan to monitor input and manage orders for the latest materials. I am through the labyrinth, but the thread must be maintained. I have done my part. Last year, I completed 83 reading lists.

This month: 22, alone. September is around the corner, and one must imagine Sisyphus happy⁷. 

Come, take a thread. Let’s go.

Footnotes

¹ King of Athens, Theseus in his youth travelled to Crete and killed the Minotaur. He escaped from the Labyrinth in which it was kept with the help of a thread given him by King Minos’ daughter Ariadne (Kearns et al., 2014).

² Daedalus’ labyrinth was designed to trap the beast, the Minotaur. It is the original labyrinth of classical mythology (Ferber, 2007).

³ A short story by Borges detailing a labyrinth library of interlocking rooms containing all possible text in existence (Borges, 1941). A web version has also been created.

⁴ Daedalus, creator of the labyrinth, was a renowned craftsman (Cotterell, 1997).

⁵ Ariadne gave a thread to Theseus when entering the labyrinth (Leeming, 2005).

⁶ There is a logic used in computers and puzzle solving called “Ariadne’s thread” that is derived from the myth. In short, it involves tracing back steps and finding any and all solutions (Mepham, 2005).

⁷ This philosophy, derived from the myth of Sisyphus, suggests that in order for one to live, one must find meaning and fulfilment even when confronting obstacles (Camus, 1941).

References

Borges, J.L. (1941) The Library of Babel.

Camus, A. (1941). The Myth of Sisyphus.

Cotterell, A. (1997). Daedalus. In A Dictionary of World Mythology. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 31 July 2025, from https://www-oxfordreference-com.dcu.idm.oclc.org/view/10.1093/acref/97801921774 76.001.0001/acref-9780192177476-e-200

Ferber, M. (2007). Labyrinth. In Ferber, M. A dictionary of literary symbols (pp. 106-107). Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 29 July 2025 from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/dcu/reader.action?docID=326009&ppg=119&c=UERG

Kearns, Emily, and Karim W. Arafat. (2014). Theseus. In The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 29 July 2025 from https://www-oxfordreference-com.dcu.idm.oclc.org/view/10.1093/acref/97801987067 79.001.0001/acref-9780198706779-e-623

Leeming, D. (2005). Ariadne. In The Oxford Companion to World Mythology. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 29 July 2025, from https://www-oxfordreference-com.dcu.idm.oclc.org/view/10.1093/acref/97801951566 90.001.0001/acref-9780195156690-e-134.

Mepham, M. (2005). Solving Sodoku. Crosswords Ltd. [Guide]. Retrieved 31 July 2025, from https://www.sudoku.org.uk/PDF/Solving_Sudoku.pdf