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Frederick E. Berry Library and Learning Commons

Help & Services

Course Reserves for Students

Search the Course Reserves database to see if there are any print or online copies of your readings for your courses. Students must present a valid, barcoded ID/Library card to borrow items from course reserves. Students may check out up to two print reserve items at any one time. eCourse Reserves (electronic content) will be listed under the course reserves database or through your Canvas courses.

Course Reserves for Faculty

Berry Library provides Course Reserves to support instructional requirements for specific courses. The Reserves staff handles both physical and electronic requests. Items placed on physical Course Reserves can be in many formats, including books, journal articles, video recordings, compact discs, and DVDs. Items placed on eReserves can be online eBooks, Open Educational Resources, websites, scanned copies of a chapter of a book or 10% of a book.

Please submit your reserves (print or eReserves) requests with the required form. Materials submitted three weeks prior to the start of a semester will be ready for students to use on the first day of class. Materials submitted during the first week of a semester will take time to be processed. If a book is not available at the Berry Library contact your subject specialist research and instruction librarian to order the book. It will take 3-4 weeks for the book to arrive and be processed.

Course Reserves Online Forms:

To assure availability, print Course Reserves collections have short loan periods (2 hours, 24 hours, or 7 days) which vary by individual course selections by faculty.

Course Reserves can be searched by course name, course number, and by faculty name on Course Reserves Database in the NOBLE catalog.

Read more on course reserves guidelines for faculty.

Any questions call 978-542-6230 or email Course Reserves.

Faculty Course Reserves Guidelines

Electronic Content (eReserves)

Berry Library supports faculty with electronic instructional materials, book chapters, articles, streaming video links and eBooks. Reserves team will:

  • Locate the eReserves requested items and scan and create accessible, screen reader-compatible (Optical Character Recognition or OCR) scans for readings, complying with the American Disabilities Act (ADA).
  • Create copyright-compliant permalinks to licensed library resources that can be shared with students via Canvas, email, and other eLearning platforms.
  • Locate appropriate licensed library resources and open access educational materials for faculty requests.

Where to submit eReserves requests: E-Reserves Request Form.

In compliance with fair use guidelines, the following restrictions apply. You may request:

  • A copy of only one chapter or not more than 10% from any book or the other monograph (conference proceedings, reference materials or miscellaneous report.)
  • A copy of only one poem, short story, or essay from a single volume whether from a collected work.
  • For more information and guidelines, go to the E-Reserves Request Form.

 

Print Course Reserves

Print Course Reserves are located behind the Library Help Desk. Students must present a valid, barcoded ID/Library card to borrow items from course reserves. Students may check out up to two reserve items at any one time.

 

Placing an item on Print Reserves

In order for any item to be placed on reserve, it must be accompanied by a complete and accurate Print Reserve Request Form (online or in print.) Print copies are available at the Library Help Desk. Faculty also have the option to fill the Add a Print Reserve Request Form. Alternatively, complete the top portion of the form and attach a list of materials, required reading list, supplementary reading list or syllabus. Incomplete forms will be returned to the instructor and may delay the processing of the materials.

Faculty may submit course reserves print materials for the duration of the semester in which the course is offered. Please indicate on the Reserve Request Form the semester(s) when items will be used (fall, spring, summer, winter, or all the above). Items will be removed from Reserves and returned to you at the end of the time indicated.

For your students’ benefit please be sure that the citation on the reserve request form is identical to that on the course syllabus; items will be placed on reserves under the professor’s last name alphabetically listed under the titles for each professor. Library Help Desk staff and student employees regret that they cannot complete reserve request forms for the instructor. Blank reserve request forms are available at the Library Help Desk and may be duplicated.

 

SSU Berry Library Owned Items

Instructors may supply the library with a list of titles and call numbers they want on reserve, or they may submit the books themselves. Library Help Desk staff will retrieve items from the library collection that are to be placed on reserve if a list is provided. If the requested materials are unavailable, the instructor will be notified as soon as possible. If an instructor would like the library to purchase a book or books to be placed on reserve, the instructor should contact the subject specific Research and Instruction Librarian. Refer to the contact list for Research and Instruction Librarians. This should be done six weeks prior to the beginning of the semester so that the materials would be used for a course.

 

Personal Copies

Personal copies of books and journals may be placed on reserves. They should be listed as such on a reserve request form. We caution that some amount of wear and tear should be expected when an item is on reserve. The library does not accept the responsibility for the loss, theft, or damage to personal items.

 

Photocopied Materials

Photocopies of a chapter of a book or 10% of the pages of the book or a monograph can be placed on print reserves. Photocopies of entire books are in violation of copyright law and will not be accepted.

 

Multiple Copy Restrictions

Instructors may place up to five (5) copies of a title/item on reserve. This restriction applies to books, journals, and photocopies etc.

 

Course Reserve Loan Periods

There are three loan periods available for course reserve materials: 2 hours, 24 hours, 7 days. Please indicate which loan period you prefer on the print reserve request form.

 

Timelines and Submissions

Materials are processed by Reserve staff in the order in which they are received. To ensure that materials are available for students when needed, the Reserves staff request that items to be placed on reserve be submitted as early as possible to avoid delays in processing. Instructors are requested to submit a copy of the course syllabus with an initial reserve form for each course. Processing of reserve material will take a minimum of three business days, with a maximum of two weeks during peak periods (e.g., the start of a semester.) Materials will not be available for circulation until they have been processed.

 

Restrictions on Reserve Materials

Interlibrary loan materials and books borrowed from other libraries will not be placed on reserve. The library can assist with scanning reference materials that fall within fair-use guidelines (10% of the book or 1 chapter) and creating ADA-compliant PDFs. Fill out an eReserves form if you need Reference materials scanned under fair-use guidelines. As every effort is made to keep Reference materials available in the Reference area, these materials are not placed on course reserve. Please contact the Reserves Coordinator if you have any questions regarding such material.

 

Removing Items from Reserve

ou may request at any time that material be removed from reserve by filling out a print form or filling the online removal form. Because items need to be deaccessioned from our system, 72 -hour notification is necessary whenever you remove items from reserve. All items will be returned to the library stacks or instructor at the end of the semester indicated on the reserve request unless prior arrangements are made with the Reserves Coordinator.

 

Course Reserves Contact Information

Please call 978.542.6766 (Reference line) or 978.542.6230 (General Library Help line) or email reserves@salemstate.edu if you have any course reserves questions.

Contact information for any reserves detailed questions:

Jessica Fernandes
Reserves Coordinator
978.542.6764

Rukmal Ryder
Reference Services Librarian
978.542.6767