Washington State University Libraries – Pullman campus
Electronic Reserves Service

The Washington State University Libraries supports campus faculty through its reserves services, including electronic reserves. Below are some guidelines and information on work practices for the electronic reserves service.

Purpose of the service

The purpose of the electronic reserves service is to make course materials available to students for classroom use. The electronic reserves service provides students with access to a small part of the materials required for a course and is not a substitute for coursepacks.

General information

• Materials are placed on electronic reserves at the initiative of course instructors.
• In all cases, a lawfully obtained copy will be used as the basis for an electronic reserves item. When possible, when an item that is not part of the Libraries' collections is digitized and placed on electronic reserves, the Libraries will purchase or obtain a copy.
• In most cases, it is contractually possible to use WSU Libraries electronic subscription resources with electronic reserves. Faculty members should strongly consider the use of these items for electronic reserves readings.
• The Libraries will make use of Fair Use provisions (codified in Section 107 of the Copyright Act) in placing materials on electronic reserves.
• In cases in which an item's use exceeds fair use, the Libraries will assist faculty members in obtaining copyright permission. This includes the Libraries seeking and paying for permission from the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) and directly from rights holders.

Submitted materials – limits and requirements

• The total amount of material included in electronic reserves for a specific course should be a small proportion of the total assigned reading for the course.
• A maximum of 20 items per class that require copyright permission to be obtained may be placed on electronic reserves.
• No more than 25 percent of a book may be digitized and placed on electronic reserves.
• Consistent with the Attorney General of Washington (Washington State University Division) recommendations to the Libraries, a copy of the original copyright notice will be included with the digitized item.
• The submitted materials must meet legibility requirements.
• Submission of a course syllabus is recommended to assist library staff in processing reserves materials.

Access to materials

• Electronic reserves materials are accessible through the Griffin online catalog, with materials retrievable solely by course name and course instructor.
• Limits will be applied to ensure that all users attempting to access any electronic reserves document are members of the WSU community.
• A course-specific password will be used to control access to reserves materials for a specific course.
• There will be no charge for access to electronic reserves materials. The charge for laser print copies of electronic reserves materials is solely for printing cost recovery (paper and printer-related supplies).

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