Michener Library Electronic Reserve Service
Electronic Reserve is a new service available at Michener Library that allows students to access course materials via the Internet. Readings selected by faculty are scanned and stored online, usually as PDF files, and can be viewed and printed by registered UNC students. The Electronic Reserve service can also be used to direct students to an article available in an online journal database or other web resource. In addition, you can link to Electronic Reserves from Blackboard.
Benefits of Electronic Reserve
The greatest benefit of Electronic Reserve is ease of access. An unlimited number of students can view and print the same course readings at the same time from multiple computers. The material can be viewed whether the student is using a computer in the library, in a campus computer lab, or in the student’s home. The material can be viewed at any hour, regardless of whether the library is open.
Using Electronic Reserve
Bring materials for Electronic Reserve to the Michener Library circulation desk. Please provide clean, single-sided copies, with complete citation information for any copyrighted material. If you have an electronic version of the material – for instance, a set of lecture notes in a Word format – you can email the file to library reserve staff. Library staff will ask you to fill out a form that provides information about the reserve item(s) as well as your contact information.
Student Use of Electronic Reserve
From the library’s online catalog, a student can search for reserve materials by the name of the instructor or the course abbreviation. Once the student finds the appropriate course, s/he sees a list of all reserve materials, both paper and electronic. The student clicks on the appropriate Electronic Reserve item, provides his/her name and Bear Number, and can then view and print the material.
Copyright
Copyright restrictions are a greater concern when course material is stored and accessed online than when the material is delivered in a paper format. The fair use provisions of the Copyright Act of 1976 allow for limited use of copyrighted materials in certain circumstances, and the use of Electronic Reserve may fall under those provisions. In general, more than one article from a single journal issue or more than one chapter from a book may require permission from the copyright holder. Likewise, if you wish to use the same material for the same course for more than one semester, copyright permission will probably be required. Library staff will work with you to obtain copyright permission.
For further information about Electronic Reserve, please contact Sarah Vaughn (Sarah.Vaughn@unco.edu) or Michele Dezelick (Michele.Dezelick@unco.edu).