Course Reserve Services

Course reserves service is available in all the UArts Libraries. You may place library materials (books, scores, videos, recordings, DVDs, etc.), as well as your own personal materials on course reserve. In addition, electronic documents (such as a PDF version of an article) may be placed on reserve via our electronic course reserve (ECR) service.

Digital images from the Visual Resources Collection may also be placed on course reserve. Visual Resources staff will create a Web page for the images. Please see our Visual Resources pages for more information.

ECR: Electronic Course Reserves

Electronic course reserve (ECR) service allows students to access course reserve materials electronically from anywhere via the library catalog. This is a convenient and paper-saving alternative to traditional photocopied reserves. Procedures for placing items on ECR are largely the same as for physical copies. See below for details.

What you must provide

• Course reserve request form: print the PDF version or pick up a copy at the Greenfield or Music circulation desks. For electronic reserves, write "ECR" in the call number box.


• A dated copy of your course syllabus. This is very helpful for both your students and library staff. We can include your syllabus in your reserve materials if you like. Titles listed should match the title page and/or chapter names of the reading. Full, complete citations are required.


• A course password for electronic course reserves. Please distribute this password to your students; they will need it to access ECR materials.


• Photocopies of any materials not available online. Please adhere to the photocopy guidelines below. For ECR, PDFs are acceptable, and encouraged.


• You may drop off your completed forms and materials at either library, email them to Mike Sgier MSgier@uarts.edu, send them via UArts interoffice mail, or mail them to:
  Reserves/Circulation
  [Greenfield or Music] Library
  The University of the Arts
  320 S. Broad St.
  Philadelphia, PA 19102

Policies and Best Practices for Course Reserves

• A minimum of 2-3 days is needed for the library to process reserves requests.


• If a library copy is available, we advise against putting personal materials on reserve.


• All reserve materials must comply with copyright law (see below).


• We do allow other faculty to check out a course reserve video or DVD to show in a class, but the item goes out only for the duration of the class and not for the normal faculty 5-day borrowing period. If a video or DVD does not need to be on course reserve for an entire semester, please specify an end-date; doing so frees up the item for other patrons, including your fellow faculty.


• Please make sure your students know your name! Students generally look up course reserves by faculty last name. Please make sure your name is on your syllabus.


• You can check your course reserve list yourself through the library catalog to see if your requests have been processed. Be sure to "refresh" the page if necessary.


• To access electronic course reserves, your students must have a library barcode on their UArts ID and must know the course password.


• ECR is for required readings only. Course packets and entire books cannot be placed on ECR.


• Photocopies should be clear; single-sided; on 8 ½ x 11 paper; and without staples, wrinkles, or hole-punches. Please, no more than 25 pages per selection. If you shrink the text to fit, make sure it is still legible.


• PDFs should follow the same guidelines as photocopies and files should not exceed 4MB.


• The scanning settings used at the library are: B&W document, OCR, and 300 dpi.

Copyright and Course Reserves

Faculty must comply with the educational fair use guidelines of copyright law as it applies to library course reserves. Specifically this includes:

• A limit of 1 photocopy per 15 students in a class.


• The University Libraries cannot accept off-air taped videos, photocopies of entire books, materials belonging to other libraries or any other materials in violation of copyright law.


• Faculty must seek copyright permission from the copyright holder for photocopied materials (including those made into electronic course reserve items) used for more than one semester.

Factors to consider for educational fair use include:

1. the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;


2. the nature of the copyrighted work;


3. the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and


4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

For more information on copyright:

• Stanford University's Stanford Copyright and Fair Use Center has an excellent set of Web pages on copyright and fair use.


• Visit the U.S. Copyright Office Home page at http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright.


• See our subject guide to copyright.


• Circular 21: Reproduction of Copyrighted Works by Educators and Librarians is available online as a PDF from the U.S. Copyright Office.