UCB Libraries

Accessing Course Reserves

 

Enrolled students are automatically registered with the Libraries.  Other patrons, such as auditors, may need to register in person.  Contact the Norlin Circulation Desk at norcirc.colorado.edu or 303-492-3977 for registration information. Patron types

The Adobe Acrobat Reader is needed to view e-Reserve items – we recommend Version X or higher.  All campus machines should have this software already installed.  For personal computers, download the latest version.

A current web browser is needed.  Download the latest versions of Firefox or Internet Explorer.

From the University Libraries home page, choose the Reserves tab.   Course listings can be searched by instructor’s last name or course designation/number.  Students must enter their own Identikey Username and Password as well as the course-specific password in order to access the electronic files.  Auditors will enter their last name, ID number and PIN as well as the course-specific password.

Instructors will provide students with the course-specific password.  Contact the instructor if the course-specific password has not been supplied.

Reserve course lists may contain books that are on the physical Reserve shelves at Norlin Library or the branch libraries, electronic readings and streamed media. View a sample course

E-Reserve readings can be accessed from any computer connected to the Internet, either on campus or off.

Books on course lists may be checked out from the Norlin Reserve shelves during Norlin Library’s normal hours of operation.  The branch libraries post their own hours. http://ucblibraries.colorado.edu/hours/index.htm

The fine for an overdue Reserve book is $2.00 per hour.

If an instructor’s name or course designation doesn’t appear in the Reserve courses, it could be that s/he hasn’t delivered the course materials to Reserves yet.  Contact the instructor.
If the instructor says s/he has already sent us the materials, contact the Reserves office.

Downloading/Printing Course e-Reserves

 

E-Reserves documents are stored in PDF format and may either be opened and printed or downloaded to your computer.  The Adobe Acrobat Reader is needed to view e-Reserve items – we recommend Version X or higher.  All campus machines should have this software already installed.  For personal computers, download the latest version.

When printing, select the Adobe Acrobat print icon from the Adobe tool bar. For more information on printing at the Libraries, see Imaging at the Libraries.

There is no charge for downloading or printing documents from e-Reserves, unless the print job is from a campus computer.  Then the usual per-page fee will apply.

Viewing Streaming Media

 

Reserve streaming media files are accessed the same way as electronic readings – with an Identikey Username and Password and a course-specific password for registered students and last name, ID number, PIN and course-specific password for auditors.

Rarely, students report problems with the streaming video continually buffering or not playing.  The most common reason for this is that the computer receiving the incoming stream is not able to keep up with its speed.  This usually happens because the computer is an older model.  Sometimes the internet connection speed is slow.   The local area network – a dorm network for example – may be receiving a high amount of net traffic.

Contact the Reserves office to check the connection.   If we can access the streaming media with no problem from our office, then the issue is mostly likely the personal computer or internet connection.

 

Known Issues and Error Messages

WRONG COURSE PASSWORD.
If this error message is received after entering the correct Identikey Username and Password and course-specific password for the electronic item, try entering the password in all lower case characters.  Passwords are case sensitive.  The Reserves staff encourages instructors to make them lower case; however not all choose to do so.  Contact the Reserves office if the readings still can’t be accessed.

 

UNABLE TO IDENTIFY YOU THROUGH YOUR CAMPUS IDENTIFICATION. 
PLEASE USE YOUR LIBRARY ID OR SEE A LIBRARIAN FOR ASSISTANCE.
If this error message is received after entering the correct Identikey Username and Password and course-specific password for the electronic item, this may be an error in the campus system.  Try this workaround:   From the Libraries home page, choose the Quick Link Log-in to My Chinook.  Log in, and then choose the Start Over tab at the top of the page.    Choose Reserves from the next page, and enter the instructor’s name or the course number as usual.  Contact the Reserves office if the readings still can’t be accessed.

Accessing the Campus Network

Course Reserves can be accessed from an off-campus location without downloading the University of Colorado VPN, but logging into the VPN is necessary for access to the Libraries’ licensed databases and other online resources.

The Office of Information Technology (OIT) has a useful online booklet about campus computing resources:  Getting Started with Campus Technology.

 

OIT has Walk-in Desktop Support offices (BugBusters Walk-in Centers) in the Telecommunications Building and the Norlin Commons.

Placing books (and other physical materials) on Norlin Library Reserve

 

Instructors may place books and audiovisual material owned by the University of Colorado Libraries or books, textbooks and audiovisual material owned by the instructor on reserve at Norlin Library.

Reserves will not place unauthorized copies of commercially available AV material on reserve.
Materials borrowed from another library or rented from a commercial establishment may not be placed on reserve.

Reserves will not place paper copies of single or collected articles or other writings on the Reserve shelves.  Such items should be placed as separate files on e-Reserves. 

Materials for Reserve should be brought to the Norlin Circulation Desk, and a Book Reserve Request Form should be filled out.  Request forms are available online or in paper at the Norlin Circulation desk.

Reserves will retrieve requested items from the stacks as time permits and only if call numbers are supplied.  Call numbers ensure that the Reserve staff finds the exact title and edition being requested.

Instructors may have books paged through the Libraries’ Pilot Paging Project; however they will still need to pick up the books at the Norlin Circulation desk, fill out a Book Reserve Request Form, and indicate to Circulation desk staff that the books should be placed on Reserve.

Reserves will place holds if material on the Book Reserve Request Form is checked out to another patron.

Books from the Libraries branches may be placed on reserve at Norlin Library and vice versa.
The number of physical reserve items on any one course is limited to 50 per semester.  Contact the Reserves office if that limit must be exceeded.

Reserves will not directly scan articles or chapters from journals or books for the purposes of electronic reserves.  To request PDFs of articles and book chapters for your reserve courses, please refer to the information on the Libraries’ Document Delivery Pilot Program.

 

Video Reserves: The difference between Booking & Course Reserves.

 

Placing electronic items on e-Reserve (Electronic Reserve)

 

Material to be placed on e-Reserve should be scanned and each reading converted to a separate PDF file.  Do not group multiple articles into a single submission.  Each file should include as its first page an e-Reserve Cover Sheet.  Cover sheets are available online or in paper at the Norlin Circulation desk.

Files may be emailed to Reserves at reserves@colorado.edu or delivered to the Reserves office on a CD or flash drive.

Our email box has difficulty accommodating many oversized files; ideally, each file should be 5MBs or less.  Scan text documents in B&W at 240-300 dpi. For illustrations scanned in grayscale, use the Optimize Scanned PDF option under the Document on the Adobe Acrobat tool bar after scanning the document.  Usually, we will attach the file to your course within a week after we receive it.

Links to full-text articles available on-line through the Chinook catalog or faculty web pages may be emailed to Reserves at reserves@colorado.edu.  Reserves cannot link to online sites or databases not owned by, or affiliated with, the University of Colorado at Boulder.

The number of electronic reserve items on any one course is limited to 50 per semester.   Consult with the Reserves staff if you need to exceed this limit.

Course packs will not be placed on e-Reserves

E-Reserve items will be kept active only for one semester unless the instructor makes a specific request to the Reserve staff to keep materials available online for an additional semester.  We do not place electronic materials on “permanent” reserve.   At the end of each term, we delete all courses, remove the electronic files, return the Libraries’ books to the stacks and return instructors’ books to their departmental offices.  We send an email query to all current instructors toward the end of each semester asking if they want their material retained for the following semester.

Copyright Information

 

 

For each course with electronic reserve items, instructors must sign a Faculty Sign-off Form, which contains the following statement:

I have determined, to the best of my ability, that all materials which I submit for inclusion in the CU Boulder Libraries' Electronic Reserves system, for the XXXX semester, qualify as educational Fair Use. I understand that I may be held personally responsible should legal action be taken by the copyright holder.

 

Resources
for helping to determine whether or not a particular use is fair:

• University Libraries Copyright Guidelines
• University of Colorado Boulder Copyright Information
• American Library Association: “Fair Use Evaluator”
• Columbia University: Dr. Kenny Crew’s “Fair Use Checklist”

Forms

 

• Book Reserves Request Form: pdf | doc
  
  
• E-Reserves Cover Sheet: pdf | doc
  
  
• E-Reserves Request Form: pdf
  
  
• Faculty Copyright Sign-off Form: Spring 2013: pdf
  
  
• Purchase a Title for Course Reserves: online
  
  
• Streaming Media Information for Faculty Course Reserves: pdf

Scanning Information

Faculty may use the e-Reserve scanner in the Norlin Library Circulation Desk area located on the west side of the 2nd floor, opposite the west entrance.  The Reserves staff will collect and process these files.  Again, cover sheets must be included with each submission.   

There are several additional scanners located throughout Norlin Library, and some in the branch libraries; however these are not networked to the Reserves office, and they are not equipped with document feeders.

• Information about Imaging at the Libraries
• Norlin Map: Scanners

Reserves will scan instructors’ photocopies and convert them to electronic format for Course Reserves, but the processing delay could be considerable during the first part of each term. 

 

Reserves staff will scan paper copies only of articles, book chapters and other materials and convert these to electronic format. 

 

Reserves will not scan directly from books or journals.

To request PDFs of articles and book chapters for Reserve courses, please refer to the information on the Libraries’ Document Delivery Pilot Project. 

 

Reducing File Size
Scan text documents in B&W at 240-300 dpi. For illustrations scanned in grayscale, use the Optimize Scanned PDF option under the Document on the Adobe Acrobat tool bar after scanning the document.

 

e-Reserve Scanner
Norlin Library has one dedicated scanner for scanning electronic Reserve readings only.  This scanner is equipped with a document feeder, and it is networked to the Reserves office.  Material should be scanned and saved to a folder in My Documents (instructions are posted at the scanning station).  The files will be retrieved and posted to courses by Reserve staff.  To save files, bring a USB drive.

 

The e-Reserve scanner is located in the study area behind the Norlin Library Circulation desk on the west side of the second floor.   The scanner requires a password.  The password card can be checked out at the Circulation desk.

Streaming Media Pilot Project

Instructors may also choose to include streaming video content on their Reserve courses.  The Libraries Media Services can convert many video formats for streaming application, including VHS, laserdisc and PAL/SECAM.

Media submitted to Reserves for streaming conversion must either be owned by the Libraries, the University or privately purchased by the instructor.  No unauthorized copies of commercially available media or media rented from a commercial establishment may be submitted for streaming conversion.

Reserves will not convert material that is owned by another library, even one in the University of Colorado system.

Here is more information on the Streaming Media Pilot Project:

• Streaming Media Information for Faculty Course Reserves (pdf)
  
• Streaming Media Request Form for Faculty Course Reserves (pdf)