What Are Course Reserves?
The library encourages faculty to use the library's course reserve services
to make available to students materials used in support of specific courses.
Faculty may place personally owned items on course reserve (often
referred to simply as "on reserve"). Instructors may also request
that specific library holdings be placed on course reserve. Typical
items placed on course reserve are books, videocassettes and DVDs, course notes and articles.
At the instructor's request, the library will recall an item from any
borrower should it be needed for placement on course reserve. The library
does expect that all items placed on reserve are in compliance with copyright
laws. For information about placing items on course reserve, please call
the Circulation Desk at 755-3345.
Placing an Item on Course Reserve - Items Owned
By The Instructor
- Identify the item or items you wish to place on course reserve.
- Obtain a "Request to Place Items
on Course Reserve" form for each title you wish to place
on reserve. Forms are available online in MSWord
format or Adobe Acrobat format or you can request a hardcopy version at the Circulation
Desk of the library.
- Complete a "Request to Place Items on Course Reserve" form
for each title you wish to place on reserve. You only need one
form for each title, even if you have more than one copy of the item
to be placed on reserve.
- If you have photocopied items you wish to place on course reserve,
please clip, staple, or put them together in unlabeled file folders
in a manner which reflects how you plan to have your students use them.
- You do NOT need to send them to the library in file folders. If
you had placed an item on course reserve during a previous term and
you still have the item in the same barcoded folder used before, you
may continue to place an item on course reserve in the same folder as
before.
- The library will supply any necessary folders and will label them
based upon the informaton you supply on the "Request to Place
Items on Course Reserve" form.
- For examples of different scenarios for organizing photocopied material,
see the section on Some Different Course Reserve
Scenarios.
- Have the item(s), complete with the "Request to Place Items on Course Reserve" form(s) delivered to the Circulation
Desk on the main floor of the library. Please allow two working
days for material to be processed. Also, if you send an item via
campus mail (address: Library Circulation Department, Campus Box 28),
please remember that it may take an additional day or so before the
item is available for use.
Should you wish to check if an item you requested for course reserve
has been made available for course reserve use, or if you wish to check
an item's reserve number so that you can announce it to your students,
go to the BSU Library Catalog and from the "Libraries and Collections" pull-down menu, select Course Reserves. You can then search using
any combination of your last name and keywords from the
course title and/or title of the item.
Please note that any personally owned item placed on course reserve will have
a reserve ID number and a barcode affixed to it. In the case of files,
library staff may also need to attach additional labels or notes.
Please do not place on course reserve any personally owned item which you would
deem irreplacable or which has some other special value to you. When you
place a personally owned item on course reserve, you are exposing it to
potential damage or loss. While such occurrences have been infrequent,
they do nonetheless happen. Should a borrower lose or damage a personally
owned item, the library will bill the borrower accordingly based upon
the estimated value you listed on the "Request to Place Items on
Course Reserve" form, and you will be reimbursed upon payment by
the borrower.
Placing an Item on Course Reserve - Items Owned
by the BSU Library
- Using the BSU Library Catalog, identify the
BSU-owned item or items you wish to place on course reserve. Make particular note of each item's call number and title.
- Obtain a "Request to Place Items on Course Reserve" form
for each title you wish to place on reserve. Forms are available
online in MSWord format or Adobe Acrobat format or you can
request a hardcopy version at the Circulation Desk of the library.
- Complete a "Request to Place Items on Course Reserve" form
for each title you wish to place on course reserve.
- You may submit this request electronically. To do so you
will need to edit a copy of the MSWord
version to reflect provide the necessary information for each
item. Once you have done this, send an e-mail, with the file(s) attached,
to srosselet@bemidjistate.edu. Upon a staff member reading your e-mail,
you will get a confirmation of the receipt of your request. Please
allow two working days for material to be processed.
- To submit a request in hardcopy format, have the completed request
form(s) delivered to the Circulation Desk on the main floor of the
library, or if you can spare the extra time, they can be sent to Circulation
Department of the library via campus mail. The Library's box number
is 28. Please allow two working days for material to be processed.
- May we suggest that if you are visiting the library to select
items to place on reserve, stop at the Circulation Desk, pick up some
blank forms, and complete them as you find the items you wish to place
on reserve. Then bring the form(s) and the item(s) to the Circulation Desk.
This will help get the items on course reserve faster.
Should you wish to check if an item you requested for course reserve
has been made available for course reserve use, or if you wish to check
an item's reserve number so that you can announce it to your students,
go to the BSU Library Catalog and from the "Libraries and Collections" pull-down menu, select Course Reserves. You can then search using any combination of your last name and keywords from the course title and/or title of the item.
Please note that no item will be placed on course reserve with a loan
period greater than it normally has. For instance, a periodical issue
may not be placed on reserve for more than 1-day loan. For an overview
of loan periods of typical classes of library materials, se the library's
Circulation Policies for Commonly
Borrowed Materials.
Some Different Course Reserve Scenarios
Compilation of Course Notes (or quizzes, answer sets, etc.)
The instructor places an expandable file (or 3-ring binder) on course
reserve. Each week he or she then adds copies of notes, or handouts from
the previous week. The library will assign a single reserve
ID number by which students may request the item throughout the entire
term. When sending materials to be added to the folder, please be sure
to indicate the instructor's name and the reserve ID number for the folder
to be updated. Near the end of the term such files can get quite large,
so it may be necessary to add an additional file or folder, which would
be given a new course reserve ID number.
Variant use: The instructor sets up and empty file on course reserve.
After each test, he or she sends a copy of an explanation of the answers
to the Circulation Supervisor, with a request that it be placed in the
folder and that the older item be discarded or returned to the instructor.
Photocopied Readings
The instructor has 8 readings which he or she has assigned students to
read during the course of the term. There are two readings for each of
four topics. Here are several ways the instructor can choose to have the
items on reserve.
- Group each pair of readings by topic and give each group a topic
name. When filling out the "Request to Place Items on Course
Reserve," use each topic's name as the title of each grouping.
The library will place each group of readings in a separate folder,
using the topic name as the title of the item doing a Course Reserves search in the BSU Library Catalog.
- Advantages: Keeps readings together by topic so students get the
correct pair of readings for a topic.
- Disadvantages: Students trying to search for item by using title
of an individual reading may not recognize or find while doing a Course Reserves search in the BSU Library Catalog.
- Recommendation: If using this option, make certain the syllabus indicates
the topic name for each pair of readings; also, it's good to include (or announce)
the course reserve ID number. This option usually works best for courses conducted
as small seminars.
- Place each reading on course reserve separately. The
library will place each reading in a separate folder, using the reading's
title as the title of the item doing a Course Reserves search in the BSU Library Catalog.
- Advantages: Likely easier for students to search for item on in the BSU Library Catalog.
- Disadvantages: Students need to give more attention to discerning
which titles form a pair of readings.
- Recommendation: This option works best with larger numbers of students,
especially if there are multiple copies of each reading.
- Place all of the readings on course reserve as a single package.
The library would put all items into a single folder, using whatever
title the instructor supplied on the "Request to Place Items on
Course Reserve" form. This approach is not recommended.
Students have a difficulties determining the correct readings, the contents
of the folder are difficult to manage and individual titles can easily
become lost, and one borrower can tie up all of the readings so they
aren't available for others.
Frequently Asked Questions About Completing the Request
to Place Items on Course Reserve Form
- Can I place an item on course reserve for only a part of a semester?
- Yes. Simply use the "until ___/___/___" part of the form
to indicate the date at which you would like the item removed from
course reserve.
- If I have a single copy of an item on course reserve for two
courses, can it have one loan period for one course and a different
loan period for the other course?
- No. You could, however, put a second copy on course reserve with
a different loan period.
- I co-teach a course with another instructor. Whose name should
be listed as the instructor for the reserve request?
- You may list both names. The library will enter both names into
the course reserves database so the item can be found using either instructor's
name. As the course reserve ID number is keyed to the course instructor's
name, it would be best if one instructor is identified as the principal
instructor for course reserve purposes.
- What does the loan period "3 Hour - may leave library"
mean?
- The borrower may check out the item for three hours and take it
out of the library. If the item is checked out within three hours
of the library's closing time, its due date/time will be one hour
after the next opening of the library. For instance, such and item
checked out during the typical semester at 3:20 p.m. on a Saturday
will have a due date/time of 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, if that is the next
day the library is open.
- How many copies of a title should I place on course reserve?
- Because of a number of variables, there's no easy answer to this
question. You need to consider if the use of the item is required
or simply recommended, and if so, by how many possible people. Also
you should consider the amount of reading to be done from a given
folder or volume and how much time is available between the time an
item is assigned and when the test, quiz, discussion, etc. referring
to it is to take place. Finally, if the item is a required textbook,
is it on course reserve because no copies are available for purchase,
or is it on course reserve to accommodate the student who has lost
his or her copy or cannot afford the text? Generally speaking, the
bigger the pool of potential users and the greater their need for
the item (required vs. recommended), the more likely there is a need
for additional copies of the item.
- Can I place a book I requested through interlibrary loan on course
reserve?
- No, this is contrary to the rules and protocols governing interlibrary
loan service.
- Can I place a DVD I rented from a video store or service on course reserve?
- No. As such an items is neither your property nor owned by the library, we have found this to be impractical and fraught with potential liability issues.
- Once I've placed an item on course reserve, may I as the instructor
check it out for class purposes for a period longer than the loan
period I selected when placing the item on reserve?
- Yes. When checking out the item, leave a written message for the
Circulation Supervisor requesting an extended due date. She or he can adjust
the due date accordingly.
Suggestions from the Library Staff
If you plan to direct numerous students to a specific volume or issue
of a periodical, please request that the item be placed on course reserve,
preferably with a loan period of 3-hours, in-library-use only.
Please be sure to include the course number and the desired loan period when submitting your request to place an item on course reserve. When this information is missing it usually results in a delay of at least half a day while we try to contact you to supply the information.
Please do not announce the use of a reserve item before
checking to make sure it has become available as a course reserve item.
If students know a library-owned item will be a course reserve reading before the library
has had a chance to put it on course reserve, it is likely to get checked
out before we can get to it, which simply makes it more difficult to get
it on course reserve promptly.
The library encourages you to announce your course
reserve items' reserve ID numbers to your class or put them in your
syllabus. These numbers look something like this: B-123-456 (for an item
located on the course reserve bookshelves) or F-123-456 (for an item kept
in the course reserve files).
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