Course Reserves

The library's course reserve service allows faculty to set aside books, articles, and other supplemental materials for class use either in physical form for in-house student check-out (Print Reserves), or electronically through our E-Reserves platform. Materials placed on reserve must provide a pedagogical or educational purpose and must adhere to acceptable material guidelines. Please refer to our Course Reserves and Copyright policy for further information, or our official fair use statement.

Table of Contents

1. Acceptable Materials
2. Unacceptable Materials
3. Interlibrary Loan Materials
4. Instructor-provided Print Materials
5. Deadlines, Guidelines, and Where to Submit
   • E-Reserves
   • Print Reserves
6. Fair Use and Copyright Assessment

Acceptable Materials

Unacceptable Materials

The Library will refuse to accept the following types of materials for course reserves:

• Copies that substitute for the purchase of books, publisher reprints or periodicals.
• Copies from works intended to be "consumable" in the course of study or of teaching (e.g. workbooks, exercises, standardized tests, test booklets and answer sheets, etc.).
• Copies used to create, replace, or substitute for anthologies, compilations, or collective works.
• Copies that are repeated with respect to the same item by the same teacher from semester to semester.
• Any other materials that violate fair use.

Interlibrary Loan Materials

Faculty may request an article that the library does not own through interlibrary loan (Get It 4 Me) provided that:

• Articles requested are for personal use only and are not intended to fulfill course reserves.
• No more than five articles from a single journal title are requested during any calendar year, not including articles more than five years old.
• The request is in compliance with Section 107 (fair use) and Section 108 (copying rights specific to libraries) of the copyright law.
• All articles received will be stamped with a notice of copyright.

Instructor-Provided Print Materials

Instructor-provided print reserves will only be active for the requested time period chosen upon submission of a Print Reserves request form. After the requested time period ends, faculty are required to retrieve all faculty-owned items placed on reserve.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Items will only be held for a two-week period after the requested semester/academic year's end date. Library staff will contact you after the conclusion of your reserve period. If items are:

1. Not retrieved on time
2. The library is not given due notice of a delay in retrieving said items, and
3. The library receives no response to notifications for pickup 

Items will either be returned to the faculty's department or may be discarded. The library is not responsible for missing items after delivery to relevant departments.

Deadlines, Guidelines, and Where to Submit

After faculty has chosen which materials to be placed on course reserve, faculty will either submit an E-Reserves request or a Print Reserves request to the Library using the hyperlinked forms below. Please double-check submission deadlines before submitting.

Electronic Reserves

 Submit via Electronic Course Reserve Request Form (Single Course Activation)
 Submit via Electronic Course Reserve Request Form (Multiple Course Activation)

Submission Guidelines

• Request forms should be submitted 8 weeks in advance of course start date. Requests received less than 4 weeks prior to start date will be processed as soon as possible, but may not guarantee activation by the course start date.
• Submitted materials will be posted to the E-Reserves platform arranged by folders corresponding to the respective syllabus for each course.
  • Readings arranged by weeks will be sorted into folders for each respective week. Reading lists/syllabi that do not include readings arranged by week will not be arranged in folders and will by listed in alphabetical order instead.
• Readings from required textbook(s) will not be uploaded in accordance with copyright law.
• Scholarly articles will be uploaded in PDF format.
• Courses are password protected. Instructors will need to share the password with students at the beginning of the course to ensure uninterrupted access.
• Course content will be removed after the course request's time period ends. Faculty must resubmit a new request if they would like items already placed on electronic reserve to carry over into a new semester/academic year.
• All materials MUST be in compliance with fair use copyright law, and faculty are encouraged to read our official statement on fair use. Faculty are responsible for ensuring items requested meet fair use guidelines before requesting. If unsure, contact the library for assistance.

Print Reserves

 Submit Print Reserves requests here

Submission Guidelines

• Request forms MUST be submitted BEFORE bringing faculty-owned items to the Circulation Desk for processing. Failure to submit a request form will result in items not being processed. Items brought on weekends or before holiday breaks will take longer to process. Faculty are asked to allow a minimum of 3 days to process 5 or more items, and a minimum of 1-2 days for 5 or less.
• The maximum number of items per submission is 10.
• Print reserves can be made available for check out for:
  • One semester (ex. Fall 2025, Summer Session II 2026), OR
  • One academic year (ex. Fall 2025 to Spring 2026)

• Types of materials that can be placed on reserve are

  • Photocopies
  • Books
  • Media
• Materials can be checked out for:
  • 3 hours
  • 3 days
  • Overnight
• Print reserves will only be active for the requested time period on the submission form. After the requested time period ends, faculty are required to retrieve all faculty-owned items placed on reserve.
• All materials MUST be in compliance with fair use copyright law, and faculty are encouraged to read our official statement on fair use. Faculty are responsible for ensuring items requested meet fair use guidelines before requesting. If unsure, contact the library for assistance. 

Fair Use and Copyright Assessment

Librarians are available to consult with faculty on copyright questions and concerns pertaining to course materials. NOTE: While the library is able to provide some guidance, this guidance does not constitute legal advice. Faculty are responsible for final evaluations of course materials and are advised to also check with the publishers of said materials to ensure course use is in compliance with copyright law.

Sueltenfuss Library Fair Use Official Statement: 

"Fair use applies to course reserves to the extent that they function as an extension of classroom readings and are expected to be used by students, faculty, and staff for scholastic non-commercial use. Therefore, at the request of a faculty member, the Library may photocopy and place on reserve excerpts from copyrighted works lawfully owned and/or licensed by the University from the collection in accordance with guidelines similar to those governing classroom teaching. All copies placed on reserve will include a copyright notice: "this material may be protected by copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code)".