Course Reserves at University Libraries

• Request new course reserves content via D2L.
• Be sure if you are using electronic items that you activate your D2L course so that students can access it!
• Please submit your requests as soon as possible to allow processing time and ensure items are available in time for your class to use them.
• The Library’s copyright policy guides our decisions as to what scanned documents or streamed media can be posted as course reserves. 

• Log in to your D2L account using your university log-in.
• Select the Course you wish to add materials to.
• Select Resources in the menu and Course Reserves from the drop down.

• If it is your first time accessing a course, you'll need to choose the correct semester from the dropdown menu.

• You can now submit and manage your course reserve items.  Select Add Reserve Items from the left hand menu.

These are items your students will be able to access directly through D2L - they'll be taken directly to your course's page in the course reserve management system when they click on Library > Course Reserve from within the class. Electronic reserve material can be accessed and read online from this page.

Electronic reserves can include:

• WCU licensed electronic resources, such as articles and ebooks. 
  For copyright and accessibility reasons, links are preferred over uploaded documents like .pdfs. ​
• Resources freely available on the web (if you want to have all readings listed through reserves instead of having some reading in reserves and some in Content).
  For copyright reasons, links are preferred over uploaded documents like .pdfs.
• Print material, such as books, journals, or photocopies, that library staff will scan.

When submitting material to be scanned, please keep in mind that:

• Library staff will only scan from sources that are owned by the Libraries or by faculty. Scanned copies of the title and copyright pages from all sources are included with each scan. 
• Library staff are limited to scanning material per the library’s copyright guidelines.
• Items received via Interlibrary Loan cannot be reproduced unless special permissions are obtained.

We recommend that faculty consider using links to licensed electronic resources available through the library’s collection when possible.

Accessibility

We are committed to providing equal access and opportunity to everyone. When submitting physical material to be scanned for course reserves, the original copy should be clean without marks such as handwriting, highlighting, watermarks, stains, or discoloration from photocopying.  

If you choose to upload your own scanned materials directly to course reserves, please provide a high-quality scan that is free from: 

• Text that is cut off 
• Crooked pages 
• Dark margins (Shadows from the curvature in the book’s spine) 
• Poor contrast 
• Handwriting 
• Highlighting 
• Watermarks or stains 
• Excessive use of script or italic font 
• Blurring 

Before scanning, set scanning settings to: 

• DPI between 300 and 400. 
• Black/white or 24-bit color (if color is important) 
• OCR is on

While scanning: 

• Push spine down while scanning or use a book-edge scanner to minimize distortion. 
• Don’t combine pages, scan 1 page at a time. 

Naming document: 

• Use a consistent, logical naming scheme (example: course name, author, name of document, year published, etc) 

If you do not have access to a scanner, University Libraries have ScannX scanners available for you to use with OCR technology for creating PDFs.  Ask for assistance at the Library Help Desk.  

University Libraries staff will check and remediate PDFs that are made available through Ares. If you are sharing the PDF another way, see the Digital Accessibility Resources available from the Office of Equal Opportunity and Compliance for information on creating accessible materials. 

These are items your students will be able to see on your course's page in the course reserve management system when they click on Library > Course Reserve from within the class in D2L. However, to access them, students will have to come view them in person at the WCU Libraries.

You can make full books available to your students at the Library Reserve Desk.  If the WCU Libraries do not own a copy, you can supply a personal copy for the semester if one is available. 

If you are using items from a course taught before Fall 2016, please email Course Reserves (libraryreserves@wcupa.edu).

If you would like to copy items from one section to another in the same semester, or copy items from a previously taught course that had reserves set up in Ares into a current one you can use the instructions in this tutorial. If you have any questions, please email libraryreserves@wcupa.edu

• Editing and Deleting Items: Once submitted, instructors can still edit some information for the item or remove it. 
• Item Active Dates: Instructors can set the dates for which items are available to students.  This can be helpful for professors who may choose to upload take-home exam answers for instance. 
• Item Tags: An instructor can "tag" any reserve item to help students sort material.  Some examples could be weeks, topics, assignments, etc.  Instructors can tag reserve items while filling out their initial request or later on by clicking on an item from their course list. Both instructors and students can also make their own personal tags on items which cannot be seen by anyone else.
• Processing Status: Instructors can track the status of their reserve requests within D2L.  The status of each item will display in their course reserve list.
• Email Alerts: Both instructors and students can register for email notices.  An email will be sent to instructors anytime an item is updated by you, your TA’s, or Library reserves staff.  Students can receive emails to be alerted when new items are available.  
• Student View: If instructors would like to review how students will see their course reserves, select “Switch to Student Mode” in the Library Course Reserves menu.  Please note that students will only see course reserve items that are available.
• Reserve Item Usage: Instructors can see the number of times each reserve item is accessed by selecting the “Reserve Item Usage” option.