The University Libraries offers faculty the option to set aside specific materials from the library’s collections for their students and courses.

We offer support for physical materials to be placed on Course Reserve. These reserved materials are set aside from the rest of the library’s collections and are accessible to students for a shorter loan period, typically 3 hours. This helps ensure that students within a designated class have an opportunity to access their course-specific materials.

If you are interested in requesting physical reserves for your course, please be aware of the data-driven criteria used to approve all requests:

• Materials that are required for the course
• Materials that do not exceed the 10 items maximum per course
• Repeat requests that received at least 5 checked-outs
• First time requests that meet the above criteria

Most physical materials within the library’s collection can be placed on reserve. Please note that the following items are not eligible for reserve:

• DVDs
• Maps
• Newspapers
• Reference materials
• Special collections
• Archives
• Non-circulating materials
• Personal items

Possible exceptions may be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. We encourage you to work with your subject-specific liaison librarian to find suitable course material options. You may also suggest a purchase to be added to the libraries’ collections.

Once you’ve decided on physical library materials for Course Reserve, send your request here:

Request Items on Physical Course Reserve

E-Reserves Statement

As of Fall 2020, the University Libraries no longer manages electronic course reserves. Instead, we encourage faculty to add links from the library databases directly to their Blackboard courses. For assistance, review this Blackboard Guide or consult your department’s eLearning Liaison.

Electronic Resources in Blackboard

Faculty can add electronic resources to their Blackboard courses as links or PDFs. 

We highly recommend using links. Linking to resources ensures copyright compliance. It also allows the library to collect accurate usage statistics. (Please, note that library materials showing little to no usage may be removed from the library’s collection at any time.)

We created a Faculty Guide that walks you through each step in adding electronic resources to Blackboard. Remember to find the permanent link for the resource and put it through the Link Fixer tool. These steps ensure that your students can always access the resource, especially if they are viewing it off campus.

If you are interested in converting print textbooks to electronic textbooks, please know this is typically not possible because of publisher licensing. We encourage you to work with your liaison librarian and utilize their subject guides to secure electronic textbooks or alternatives, such as Open Educational Resources.

Copyright and Fair Use

All electronic resources accessed by links to the library’s catalog are within copyright compliance. PDFs will need to be verified by whomever shares the resource.

Electronic resources may be added to Blackboard if the purpose, nature, and effect of the item meets the reasonable limit of Fair Use. Faculty who choose to add PDFs to their Blackboard courses are asked to accept full responsibility in complying with the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17).

• To determine if a resource is protected by copyright, use the Copyright Genie.
• To determine if a resource meets fair use practices, consult the Fair Use Checklist.

Please note that PDFs should only be distributed through Blackboard and not sent via email. This reasonably ensures limited use, which is an additional safeguard to ensure fair use and copyright compliance.

If you need assistance in determining fair use and copyright practices for your resources, please work with your liaison librarian.

Course Reserves
[email protected]