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Affordable Course Materials

A guide for exploring course reserves, electronic resources, and OA/OER

Course Reserves Information For Faculty

Course reserves are materials collected or licensed by the library and linked to a course.  There are both E-reserves and print reserves, all listed in one online module for easy access.  Faculty can place library-licensed e-resources such as films and e-books on reserve, or place instructor copies of textbooks and available Kennedy-owned items on print reserve, housed in Crandall (bldg. 60).. If the library doesn't own a particular digital item the library can explore requests to purchase licenses for e-books and films to be placed on reserve. You can add the course reserves search as a link in any Canvas module.  

For information on course reserves requests and workflows, visit the Course Reserves Information For Faculty page on the Library's website. 

Why E-Reserves?

E-reserves gives students 24/7 access to course materials in one convenient location. Beyond that, there are two important reasons to place your materials, even e-resources, on reserve at Kennedy Library.

  • Placing materials on reserve helps students make informed choices when registering for courses. Staff co-locate all reserves materials, print and other physical items as well as digital resources, in the same convenient search location so that students can find out whether required materials for their courses are available for no cost.  
  • Placing digital resources like e-books on reserve allows us to ensure that access remains stable. E-books and other materials are owned in various configurations, as part of large collections that sometimes change, and are subject to licensing agreements that need to be renewed from time to time. When a digital item is placed on reserve, we perform regular maintenance that helps us find and fix broken links, as well as renew licenses that are due to expire. 

Kennedy Library has various ways to support electronic course materials.

E-books, streaming media, and other digital items are available to the campus community via licenses the library purchases. There are several types of licenses, which dictate the terms and scope of use by the community, and Kennedy Library's policy is to purchase the license option that offers the most access to the most users. To view the licensing terms for different publishers view the Low Restrictions/High Restrictions tabs on the guide at the bottom of this page.

What are Print Reserves and Where are They Housed?

Print Reserves are books and other materials made available for short-term checkout from Crandall (bldg. 60)  As there is very limited space for studying in Crandall, the preferred loan period is 3 hour/overnight and students can take the items where they wish to study. Items on print reserves can be faculty owned copies or copies of print books already owned by the library and available on campus.