Copyright

Course Reserves are instructional materials selected by faculty and made available through the Copley Library to support coursework during a specific semester.

Access is limited to students enrolled in the course, and items are removed after the semester ends.

Types of reserves:

• Physical items (books, DVDs, etc.)

• Electronic reserves (PDFs, articles, ebooks, streaming media, etc.)

• Cost-saving for students
• Easier access to essential readings
• Compliant with copyright & licensing
• Controlled loan periods to ensure availability
• Support accessibility - Copley converts every PDF with OCR (optical character recognition) to make materials searchable and screen-reader friendly

• ✅ Submit requests early – Start early before the semester starts to ensure timely processing.
• 🏷️ Use your own copies – You can place your personal copies of books or DVDs on reserve if the library doesn’t own them. Visit the Access Services desk on the ground floor of Copley Library.
• 📄 Use Tags to Stay Organized – Add labels like “Week 1 Reading” or “Week 2 Article” in the Tags section to help students easily find materials by week or topic.
• 🔁 Reuse past materials – Use the Import Items feature in Ares to bring reserves over from previous courses.
• 🧑‍💼 Ask us for help – Copley Library staff can assist with copyright questions, scanning, and finding alternatives for unavailable materials.

Physical item loan periods:

• 2 hours, 4 hours, 1 day, or 3 day

Copyright restrictions:

• Fair Use vs. permission required
• Not permissible to post entire textbooks or streaming media unless licensed
• For more information, please see Copley Library's Electronic Reserves Copyright Guidelines

Preferred formats:

• PDFs, links to Copley Library databases, physical copies (library-owned or faculty member’s personal copy)

Turnaround time:

• Please allow up to one week for processing course reserve requests. Copley aims to respond to all requests within this timeframe