Course Reserve Collection
Textbooks and other high-demand course materials are placed in the Library's Reserve Collection to promote student success. These items have a short loan period to provide access to more students.
Instructors are encouraged to obtain and donate copies of currently assigned textbooks. Please include the Reserves Donation Form (PDF) when donating items to the Reserve Collection.
Purchase Requests
Help the Library build its collection by filling out the CRC Library Purchase Request form. Our primary goal is to support the needs of the students in your classes. For this reason, faculty requests for book and media purchases receive the highest priority. Student utilization of library resources is driven by your course assignments. In many cases, we are able to fulfill all faculty requests. However, due to budget constraints, we ask all faculty members to use the form to rank their requests based on the following need level:
- Critical—Vital to teaching my current classes and will definitely be used by my students.
- Collection Enhancement—Fills gaps in the library collection and may be used occasionally by my students.
- Wish List—Item is relevant to the subject areas I teach and would be nice to have in the library collection.
When making requests, we ask that you also indicate whether the item should be put on Reserve and to which class(es) and instructor(s) it should be linked. Please contact your Faculty Librarian subject liaison if you have additional questions.
Reserve Collection Guidelines
Required Editions and Approved Past Editions Only
Only editions currently required for courses are put on reserve. The most recent past edition may be put on reserve with instructor approval. Library staff will consult the Hawk's Nest Bookstore's "Required Material List" to identify library-owned items to include in the Reserve Collection.
Single Semester Reserves
Titles used for a single semester each year (fall or spring) are identified as such. During the "off" semester, these items will remain in the reserve collection, but semester notes will be removed from the Library's online catalog record.
Supplementary Material
Supplementary material (reference-type books, films, maps, lecture notes, etc.) can remain on reserve indefinitely as long as circulation statistics show evidence of student-use. "Under performing" items may be returned to the circulating collection where they are more accessible to all library users. Instructor-owned material on loan to the library will be returned to the instructor.
Library Funding of Required Textbooks
The Library may use its collection budget to support student success by purchasing high-demand textbooks based on the following criteria:
- Anticipated Demand: The textbook is used in several sections
- Core and Basic Skills Level Courses: The textbook is used in a general education or basic skills course
- Edition and Shelf Life: The textbook is the newest edition and has the potential for multi-year use
- Cost: The textbook is $75 or more, potentially creating a financial burden on students
Reserve Collection Restrictions
The following items cannot be placed on reserve:
- Personal video recordings from a television broadcast
- Rented videos, DVDs, or borrowed books
- Some consumable textbooks (typically workbooks used as homework assignments)
- Other items which are not exempt from copyright law
- Non-exempt copyrighted material for which written permission has not been obtained
Copyright Clearance
Instructors must obtain and submit written permission from copyright holders for items that are not exempt from copyright law. The Copyright Clearance Center can help and for more resources check out the library’s Copyright Resources Guide.
Submitting Reserve Requests
Please submit your Reserves Donation Form at least 1 week prior to making assignments from the reserve material. Library staff needs sufficient time to catalog and process new material.
Note: download the form to access a fillable PDF.
Helping Your Students Access Reserve Material
Faculty are urged to check OneSearch to make sure textbook information is up-to-date. To check out reserve items, students need:
- Their Student Access Card
- Their Course and Instructor (example: POLS 301 Huffman)