Course Reserves

Placing print materials on reserve

The Access Services Department in the library provide access to materials selected by faculty members to be placed on reserve for their students. These can include books owned by faculty members (such as copies of course textbooks), library books, articles from library periodicals, government documents, reference works, etc. Students may use these materials in the library for a period of three hours or may borrow them for a period of two days or seven days as designated by the instructor. Electronic reserves are accessible 24 hours / 7 days a week. Faculty members are responsible for meeting copyright regulations for all print items placed on Reserve.

Faculty members may fill out the reserve request form and turn this in with print materials to the Circulation Desk in the library.

Library staff will process materials for access in the library’s online system. This process usually takes no more than seven business days. During peak periods, such as at the beginning of each semester, it may take longer. We will process items in the order that we receive them.

If you would like multiple copies of an article placed on reserve, you will need to provide multiple copies when placing your request.

You may remove your materials from reserve at any time during the semester. You (or a designated representative) can pick up reserve items from the Circulation Desk. You can also request that we deliver materials to your office via campus mail.

Students can look up physical items on reserves. Students should check at the Circulation Desk for materials that have not yet appeared in the online system. 

For more information on getting library resources into your course shells, check out our video, Integrating Library Resources into Blackboard on YouTube. Questions regarding the process may be directed to the Circulation Desk at libreserves@tamucc.edu or by phone at 361-825-2340. The library reserves the right to refuse any item being requested for reserve.

Placing materials on electronic reserve

Electronic Reserves are hosted on Blackboard. All material requests submitted for electronic reserve must receive copyright approval before it can be placed on reserve. The library is responsible for purchasing copyright approval for electronic reserves.

Please email the following information to libreserves@tamucc.edu when submitting an e-reserve request: 

• The digital files of the items you would like to be placed on reserve
• A complete list of citations
• The course name and number
• The blackboard “name” associated with the course. The Blackboard “name” will be 5 numbers followed by a period followed by 6 numbers that represent the semester.
• The number of students taking the course

Please allow six weeks processing time for obtaining copyright permission. During peak periods, such as at the beginning of each semester, processing times may be longer. Some items will require special orders for copyright approval and will therefore have longer processing times. We process items in the order in which we receive them.

Copies of all materials being placed on reserve must be submitted to the library before the request can be processed. If the files are too large, they can be brought to the library in person on CD or on USB/Flash drive, but an email will still need to be sent with the information listed above.

If the item is not available digitally, provide a clean, and straight PDF of materials. 8 1/2 x 11 paper with at least 1/2-inch margin on all four sides should be submitted directly to library staff at the Circulation Desk.  Copies needing to be scanned into electronic format will take longer to make available to students.

Questions regarding the process may be directed to the Circulation Desk via email at libreserves@tamucc.edu or by telephone at 361-825-2340. The library reserves the right to convert any document into PDF format to improve readability.

Directions for adding electronic course reserves to Blackboard

1. Starting at your course in Blackboard
2. Select course content on the left under external resources
3. Select build content and from the drop down select item
4. Type in a name for what you want this content to be called.  This can be anything you want it to be (ex. readings, or e-reserves).
5. Scroll down to attachments and select browse content collection
6. A page will pop-up and you will see a Browse folder at the top left-hand side. Use the drop down and select “Library Content.”

   

7. Select eReserves
8. Select your specific course
9. There you should see the PDFs you sent to the library.  You should be able to select them all and hit submit.
10. Hit submit again on the main page and all your readings will now be listed under the course content section of your blackboard course.
11. Your students will then be able to view the readings by selecting course content on the left side of the page under external resources.

Faculty may place items on electronic reserve for one semester. The library will remove all electronic reserves at the end of each semester.

Please contact the Circulation Department with any questions libreserves@tamucc.edu or by telephone 361-825-2340.