Blackboard vista and Library Course Reserves

There are two ways to take advantage of Course Reserves services - in either case you must work with reserves staff to establish a course for your students in the libraries course reserve system.  After that your students can access the reading lists, which consist of books and electronic reserves (depending on your requirements) through the Course Reserves catalog or through your Blackboard Vista page.  If you are using Blackboard Vista (currently the course management software system endorsed by the university) then reserves staff can add a link within your Blackboard Vista page to the list of items on reserve for your class in the Course Reserves catalog.

You may also use Blackboard Vista to post scanned material or links to external materials yourself.  These items would appear only on your Blackboard Vista site, and not in the libraries’ course reserve system.  Consult with the Blackboard Vista Administrator for assistance.

How to Put Items on Reserve – Faculty Instructions

Items may be placed on course reserves for Fall, Spring or Summer sessions. Fall and Spring semester are two distinct periods, while the summer sessions make up the third reserve time period.

Requests may be submitted via two online forms: one for books/media items, and one for articles or chapters. These forms are located in Agora under the heading "Library Service Request." They can also be accessed by logging on to your Quest account. 

Time Frames

Course Reserves is a student-focused service. To ensure that students have access to all materials needed by the start of classes, please submit your course reserve requests in accordance with the following time frames:

Fall Semester: July 15
Spring Semester: November 15
Summer Sessions:  April 15

Some items may need to be ordered, scanned, recalled, or repaired and there may be a significant delay between the time requests are submitted and the time the material is available for student use. Because of this, requests submitted after the above dates may not be ready the first week of classes.

Before making assignments in class based on reserve readings, check Quest or call the Reserves Department in the appropriate library to make sure your materials are listed in the Course Reserves catalog, ready for student use.

Common Course Materials

Books: Almost all Reserve books come from the circulating collections of the Libraries. Additional copies may be purchased for Reserve if there are no copies in the collection or if additional copies are needed for large classes. Books borrowed from libraries other than the libraries at Boston College cannot be placed on Reserve.

• Search for the needed books using your usual method.
• When the correct title is found, click the box next to # to select record - a check mark will appear in box.
• Click the Add to My List button.
• Repeat for additional books.
• Click View My List.
• Click Save/Email.
• In the Record Format window, choose Card Format.
• In the Email Address window, type the address of the applicable library, listed above under contacts.
• In the Text window, include the following information:
  • Your full name
  • Course number, section number, and course name
  • Loan period: 2-hours or other loan periods depending on library
  • Click Go button

Journal Articles/Book Chapters: Library staff will routinely scan and provide online access to journal articles, book chapters, lecture notes, sample exams, etc., if allowable under current copyright guidelines. The Libraries' policy for placing photocopied or scanned images of published copyrighted materials on Reserve is derived from the fair use provisions of the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976. The Libraries are also guided by the principles in the Association of Research Libraries' Applying Fair Use in the Development of Electronic Reserves Systems.

If there is already an online version of the article requested in the Libraries' electronic journal collection, a link will be made to the existing online article or the article will be downloaded and scanned and placed on a local server for ease of use by students. Each article or book chapter, must contain a complete bibliographic citation.

If making a copy does not fall within the fair use guidelines below, the copyright holder must give permission for you to use the material. When producing copies for Course Reserves, library staff will usually limit the amount of scanning that they will do to one chapter from a book or one article from a journal issue. When multiple chapters from books are requested, the book itself will be placed on reserve.

When copying/scanning goes much beyond these general guidelines it begins to substitute for purchasing the item which may have an effect on the potential market value of the copyrighted work. When preparing request lists for Course Reserves faculty members should consult with Reserves staff if there is a need to vary from these guidelines.

Media: All types of media and software may be placed on Reserve at the Media Center in O'Neill Library. Contact the Media Center directly to learn more about the services offered there and how copyright may affect your reserve requests. Forms for requesting that items be placed on Media reserve are available on the Media web page. Closed Reserve Request | Daily Reserve Request |  Audio/Music Digitization Reserves Form

Personal Copies: Personal copies may be placed on Reserve but the library cannot accept responsibility for loss or damage to the material.

Course packets: When a large number of articles are needed for a course or when materials are restricted by copyright and require permission from the publisher before being placed on Course Reserves, a course pack is an alternative to using the Libraries Course Reserves.

The Course Pack Coordinator at the bookstore will obtain permissions from individual publishers. Once permissions are obtained the course packet will be sold at the bookstore like any other textbook for the convenience of students.

End of Semester Activity

Unless notified otherwise, materials will be removed from Reserve at the end of the semester. Personal copies and course packets will be returned to campus addresses or may be picked up with advance notice. Library owned materials are returned to the open shelves.  Electronic reserves lists display only for active courses i.e. those courses being used by the students during a single semester.

Contacts

Need More Information?
More information about Course Reserves procedures at specific libraries may be found by contacting the library.