Course Reserves may be any print or media designated by the instructor for student use during the semester. With the exception of print reference materials, items from the libraries’ collections may be placed on course reserve. You may also place your own materials on course reserve. Because reference items are non-circulating, these items are not put on reserve.
If you prefer to use digital materials linked through Canvas, please consult with your subject librarian to inquire about library resources you may link to in Canvas.
Course reserve materials are kept behind the circulation desk of the Franklin D. Schurz Library. Items are retrieved by circulation staff upon request. This is not a browsing collection. Print and media reserve items are listed in IUCAT and may be located using instructor name, course number, or course name. To search for materials on course reserve, visit https://iucat.iu.edu/reserves.
All patrons with a valid borrower's card issued by an Indiana University Library may consult these materials. Course reserves have varied loan periods designated by the instructor and may not be renewed. In addition, holds cannot be placed on reserve materials.
Students must present a valid photo ID in order to checkout an item on reserve.
ONE reserve item (book, media item, personal copy) per person may be checked out at a time.
The instructor determines the loan length of each item. The typical circulation period for reserve material is 2 to 4 hours and “in house use only” unless otherwise specified.
Items may not be renewed or put on hold. Any attempt to renew these items through the catalog will fail.
All reserve items must be returned to the circulation desk where the item was checked out.
Course Reserves also includes a small collection of digital media equipment. The digital media equipment is available only to IU South Bend students to borrow. See Media Equipment for a complete list available.
Course Reserves Information
Placing Material on Course Reserves
Faculty may place course-related materials on reserve for students including any combination of the following:
IU South Bend Libraries Materials– staff will pull materials for reserve from the collection.
Personal Copies – Personal copies of books and/or other materials may be placed on reserve at the owner’s risk. The Library cannot replace missing items or repair materials that are damaged from student use. Personal copies will be returned at the end of the semester.
Exception: Non-circulating library materials and materials from other libraries, including those borrowed through IUCAT or Interlibrary Loan, cannot be placed on reserve.
If an item is needed for reserve that is not in the collection, a request for purchase can be made through the appropriate Subject Librarian. Items approved for purchase may take several weeks to acquire and make available for circulation.
If you have questions, please contact Maureen Kennedy (maurkenn@iu.edu). Submitting this form puts your class in the queue to be processed.
The Schurz Library complies with the existing copyright laws (17 U.S.C.) and promotes copyright compliance among its users and among its staff.
In providing access to materials for students, especially online, it is important to remain mindful of copyright issues. Should you decide to scan course materials yourself to share with your class through Canvas, we encourage you to read these useful articles/guides:
Ultimately, as the instructor for the course, you are in the best position to decide whether your particular use of copyrighted materials is fair and reasonable. If you do post materials to Canvas you may want to:
Restrict access
Copyrighted materials placed on the web should be restricted to authorized users. So, avoid posting these items to your personal websites and instead only use Canvas.
Post a copyright notice
The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the use of copyrighted materials including copying and distribution. Fair use (Section 107) allows for limited use of copyrighted materials without the permission of the copyright owner. Individuals using copyrighted materials in excess of fair use may be liable for copyright infringement.
For more information on copyright and fair use, please see this Libguide.
Films Please see our guide for showing films in your courses.
Books
Print books in the library’s circulating collection may be placed on course reserve. You may also scan a portion of a book for use in Canvas. Typically you may scan one chapter to be in compliance with copyright law. Please use the Interlibrary Loan to request scanned sections of print books held in the library’s collections. More information about scanning print resources is listed under Articles and Book Chapters (below).
For eBooks to link in Canvas, please consult your subject librarian.
Articles and Book Chapters
For assigned articles and book chapters, Subject Librarians can search for online availability through library subscriptions and provide you with a permanent link to embed in Canvas.
Uploading pdfs obtained from subscription databases is discouraged because it raises copyright issues and reduces the library’s ability to track much needed usage statistics. More importantly, some library resources are leased for a limited duration and may disappear before the course is over. That’s why we ask you to keep us informed of which resources you are using for your courses ahead of time.
You also can request print articles and book chapters from our library be scanned for use in Canvas. These PDFs are text-searchable for use with screen-reading software. To comply with fair use and copyright guidelines, we ask that you:
Limit your requests to the portions of a given work needed for full participation in the course.
Only distribute these scans to students using Canvas (or any other system that requires students to login, i.e. Google Drive) to ensure that access is limited to those enrolled in the course.
Please use the Interlibrary Loan to request scanned articles and book chapters.
Thank you to our colleagues at University of Guelph Libraries and Grand Valley State University for sharing their language documenting these challenges. We have adapted it with permission.
As a general policy, the library does not purchase textbooks assigned in courses because the cost to purchase required texts and to keep up with new editions would quickly exceed the library’s collection budget.
Electronic textbooks can be even more problematic, especially for libraries. Many existing course textbooks are simply unavailable to any library, regardless of budget, in formats other than print. Textbook publishers have built their profit models around selling e-textbooks directly to students. We also know that the cost of textbooks and other course materials are a barrier for students at every university and essentially sends taxpayer funded student financial aid back to content providers, who further exploit faculty labor and research to monopolize and dominate knowledge production.
This is not a library problem. This industry problem affects everyone in higher education: students, advocates in support and success roles, faculty and institutional research output, grant funding, and confuses prestige and paywalls with quality in scholarship evaluation.
We would like to work with you to explore and identify viable textbook alternatives including:
Using an existing e-book in the relevant subject area from the library’s e-book collection or requesting that the library purchase one. Many academic e-books aren’t considered textbooks, and are therefore available for the library to purchase.
Adopting an open educational resource (OER). OERs are freely available educational materials that are openly licensed to allow for re-use and modification by instructors.
Posting individual book chapters or excerpts and scanned copies of the content, subject to copyright limitations.
Linking to content from the library’s existing collection of electronic resources (e-books, journal articles, streaming media, and other digital materials).
Efforts will be made to secure online materials that are free from digital rights management restrictions (DRM) in order to ensure unfettered student access. DRM includes limits on the number of users that can access a resource at any one time, as well as limits on copying, printing and downloading.
For questions about textbook purchase or use, please contact your Subject Librarian. You many also want to check this guide, OER and Textbook Alternatives to find existing free and open textbooks.
In the event of a lost or damaged item, the responsible patron must pay the replacement charge. A replacement copy with the same ISBN and in good condition will be considered in place of replacement fees pending review and approval by the owner of the reserve item (faculty or library).
Students will be held accountable for non-returns. All funds accrued are not transferrable to individuals (i.e. faculty).
For more information, see IU Financial Management policy FIN-TRE-VI-120).
Q: Can the Libraries still help with questions I have about posting copyrighted material?
