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Faculty & Staff: Course Reserves

Books, DVDs, and CDs

Physical items such as books, DVDs, and CDs may be placed on course reserve at the Watzek Library Service Desk. Reserves circulate for limited periods (typically 3 hours) to ensure that they will be available to as many students as possible. Faculty may use materials owned by Watzek or submit personal copies. We are unable to place Summit, ILL, photocopied, or duplicated material on course reserve.

In many cases, library staff will automatically place required textbooks on reserve based on information from the bookstore. Additional items can easily be placed on reserve using Primo, the library catalog, as demonstrated in this short video. You can also request the purchase of materials for reserves by contacting your library liaison

Ebooks

Ebooks may also be placed on reserve for inclusion in your course's reserve list. 

Ebook access is governed by the publisher's license terms. When possible, the library purchases ebooks that allow unlimited simultaneous users. However, some ebooks can only be viewed by one user at a time. For the most part, traditional textbook publishers do not sell electronic versions of their texts to libraries. Ebooks sold through the Lewis & Clark bookstore, Amazon, and other retailers are not necessarily available for purchase by the library. 

To have an ebook placed on reserve, make your request using Primo, the library catalog, as demonstrated in this short video, or contact your library liaison regarding a new purchase.

Streaming Video

When possible, the library will obtain licensed copies of films through commercial vendors or subscribed databases. If a license for library or classroom use is unavailable, DVDs and BluRay discs can sometimes be converted to streaming video. 

Place your request for streaming video in Primo just as you would for traditional course reserves (see above). When completing the request form, check the box to indicate your preference for streaming. Library staff will research available licenses and options for converting DVDs and will contact you with a link to access your video. To allow adequate time for licensing and/or DVD conversion, place your request at least two weeks in advance.

We cannot convert instructors' copies or materials borrowed through Summit or interlibrary loan. If Lewis & Clark does not own the film you need, please email us at reserves@lclark.edu to request a purchase. 

Linking to Library Articles & Book Chapters

We urge faculty to provide students with library links to electronic resources (articles, book chapters, streaming media) wherever possible, rather than uploading PDFs to Moodle or other course sites.

  • Using library links ensures that you are in compliance with copyright law and licensing agreements. No fair use analyses or permissions are required.
  • Using library links preserves electronic accessibility features such as text-to-speech and alternative text for images.
  • Using library links gives your students experience navigating library systems and supports their development as confident and self-sufficient researchers.
  • Using library links provides the library with accurate data about the resources that are most important for teaching and learning at LC. When you share a link with your class and fifteen students access a particular journal to view the assigned article, we have a record that suggests the importance of that journal. When PDFs are shared, our data will only reflect that you accessed the journal to download the article. Accurate data is important because it allows us to preserve the titles that are most critical to instructional needs.

For your convenience, we recommend that you provide permalinks in Primo. These do not require editing or the addition of prefixes. A short video demonstrates how to find permalinks in Primo, and what your students will encounter when you provide them.

Library staff are happy to assist with collecting permalinks. Send us your reading list, and we will provide the links.

Providing Access to Materials Outside Watzek's Collections

You may sometimes need to assign materials that are outside Watzek's holdings or subscriptions. Obtaining permission for reuse from the copyright holder is the best way to ensure full compliance with copyright law. The College recommends using XanEdu, a service that allows faculty to assemble sets of course materials, obtain copyright permissions from publishers, and create electronic or printed course packs for students to purchase through the campus bookstore.

Because turnaround time and costs can be significant, XanEdu may not be a viable option in all situations. You may wish to consider the following alternatives for making book chapters, articles, and other excerpts of copyrighted materials available to your students:

Using selections that fall under fair use

Faculty should be cautious about uploading copyrighted material to Moodle or a course web site. A fair use analysis must be performed for each copyrighted reading posted. This analysis should be done at least six weeks before classes begin so there will be time to obtain copyright permissions through XanEdu (see above) when a reading falls outside the boundaries of fair use. 

Using resources that are in the public domain or openly licensed

Works in the public domain are not protected by copyright and may be reproduced without permission. These include many U.S. government publications and works with expired copyrights.

Creative Commons allows copyright holders to encourage reuse of their works with generous license terms. Creative Commons licensed works can be found using a wide variety of websites and search engines such as OER Commons.

Textbook adoption
Contact the Lewis & Clark Bookstore for information on textbook adoption.