The growing popularity of online classes and the
introduction of course management systems like Blackboard have
instructors moving away from traditional print reserves toward
electronic reserves. The round-the-clock, electronic access to this
material is a convenience that today’s students not only appreciate,
but expect. Below are guidelines related to electronic reserves.
- Items placed on reserve should be part of the instructional
objectives of the class and intended for the use of students in the
class.
- An item may be placed on electronic reserve one time
under fair use guidelines without having to obtain permission, but
each subsequent use requires permission and payment of usage
charges, if necessary.
- Access to reserve material must be limited to those students enrolled in the class.
- Electronic reserves may only be made available for the
duration of the class. Access to them must be disabled when the
class ends.
- Students may make a copy of an electronic reserve item for the purpose of individual study or research.
- Each reserve item must include a notice of copyright.
- Material owned by the CMU Libraries –including items
from our print and electronic collections—can be placed on
e-reserve without having to obtain permission or pay usage
charges. Instructors are encouraged to draw on these collections when
assembling reserve materials.
- Linking to a reserve item is preferable to creating a
copy of the item. Since linking does not involve appropriating
content but is simply pointing the student to an item, copyright doesn’t
actually come into play. You can link to anything you want
without having to obtain permission.
- It’s a good idea to take advantage of the library’s
electronic reserve service when you want to make material
available to your class. Be aware that distributing material to
your class outside of the electronic reserves format may be
construed as a violation of copyright.
If you wish to place material on electronic reserve, please contact the library's Course Reserves and Copyright Services office.
The staff will
locate a full text copy of the item for you, obtain the necessary usage
permissions and pay any usage charges, and provide a link to it or
load the item directly into your Blackboard course shell.