Course Reserves
It is the responsibility of individual faculty members to determine whether or not they possess the right to copy works, whether in whole or in part, for course related use including reserves. Generally speaking, if the request calls for only a single copy to be placed on reserve, the Library may photocopy an entire article, or an entire chapter from a book, or an entire poem. However, according to the ALA Model Policy, requests for multiple copies on reserve should meet the following guidelines:
- The amount of material should be reasonable in relation to the total amount of material assigned for one term of a course taking into account the nature of the course, its subject matter and level, 17 U.S.C. SS107(1) and (3);
- The number of copies should be reasonable in light of the number of students enrolled, the difficulty and timing of assignments, and the number of other courses which may assign the same material, 17 U.S.C. SS107(1) and (3);
- The material should contain a notice of copyright, see 17 U.S.C. SS401;
- The effect of photocopying the material should not be detrimental to the market for the work. (In general, the library should own at least one copy of the work.) 17 U.S.C. SS107(4).
Note that classroom or reserve use of copied materials in multiple courses or successive years will normally require advance permission from the owner of the copyright (17 U.S.C. SS107(3)). For this reason, the Library will not keep copies on reserve for more than one semester without obtaining permission. In such cases, faculty should be aware of alternatives:
- If the article exists in one of the Guillermin Library’s databases, a persistent link can be created within Blackboard;
- Find a suitable work online and create a link (Note: There are many open access journals available online. In addition, most classics are considered public domain and available online.)
- As a research exercise, faculty can simply provide the citation and allow students to locate the article in the Library’s database.
Course Reserve Form: You may download a PDF version and submit it to the Circulation Desk.
