General Course Reserves Policy

University Libraries, Unt Policy And Procedure Memorandum.

Summary

The General Course Reserves Policy of UNT libraries describes policy information related to placing general collections items on reserves.

Definitions

  1. Reserves: The UNT Libraries holds and distributes course reading materials including textbooks for students as requested by instructors. These materials are placed at a service desk within the libraries or are made available online and can include books, articles, chapters of books, sample tests, videos, CDs, and DVDs.
  2. General Collections: Collections of library materials that are not held by the Special Libraries are considered general collections.

General Course Reserves Guidelines

For courses currently offered at the University, the Libraries will make copies of certain works available on Reserves. Material may be made available in physical or electronic format depending on the type of material and amount put on Reserves.

The Borrowing Reserves & Laptops policy provides details about Reserves materials checkouts. They have shorter loan periods compared to regular circulating items, accrue overdue fines, and may be restricted to use within the library. Materials are placed on Reserves per instructor request.

Materials Which Can Be Placed On Reserves

  • Items owned or leased by the Libraries or claimed as a resource in common with other libraries.
  • Required reading for courses currently taught.
  • Materials not available in quantity.
  • Personal print copies from the instructor, if required reading.
  • Electronic copies of articles or chapters of books, or scans of limited portions of materials owned by the UNT Libraries or by the instructor.
  • CDs, DVDs, and other media.

Materials Which Generally Cannot Be Placed On Reserves

  • Whole issues of print periodicals
  • Non-circulating books
  • Reference materials
  • Workbooks
  • Materials from other libraries

Physical Material Reserves

Reserves materials will be removed at the end of the semester unless the instructor requests renewal for use within the following year.

The Libraries are not responsible for loss or damage to personal print copies of materials loaned to the Libraries by the instructor for reserves.

Electronic Material Reserves

All requests to place on reserves copies of articles or chapters from books will be made available to students in electronic format if at least one of the following is true:

  • The print item is owned by the UNT Libraries
  • The print item is claimed as a resource in common with other libraries
  • An electronic version has been purchased or licensed by the Libraries
  • A print version owned by the instructor is lent to the Libraries for digitization
  • The article or chapter was authored by the instructor

Otherwise, the material will be made available only in print format subject to the following limitations:

  • No more than one chapter, or 10% from a single book, may be made available through electronic reserves for a course each semester.
  • No more than one article from a single issue of a journal may be made available through electronic reserves for a course each semester.

The Libraries may digitize an entire item for electronic reserves if the item is both:

  • not available for purchase in print or electronic format by students or the Libraries
  • not available for licensing as an electronic coursepack through the official campus bookstore

A copyright notice will appear on the electronic reserves system opening screen and on the cover sheet of each scan.

Articles available through the electronic resources or e-books of the Libraries are subject to the terms of the Libraries’ licensing agreement with the vendor.

Access and Availability

Access to electronic reserves will be limited to students currently enrolled in the relevant course, and all electronic reserves material digitized from print will be hosted on a secure, password-protected server.

The faculty member must provide to the Libraries a password that students will use in accessing electronic documents and will be responsible for distributing the password to the class.

All electronic reserves will be removed from the electronic reserve system at the end of every semester, but the faculty member may request that the file be reinstated for the following semester. The course password must be changed if the materials are to be used again.

The Libraries complies with U.S. Copyright Law. For additional copyright information, please go to our Copyright Advisory Services page.

Dates

  • Approved: 06/11/12
  • Revised: 12/04/17, 06/26/2020

License Information

This Policy: "General Course Reserves Policy" by UNT Libraries is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.