Reserve Policy: Home

Each item will be considered regarding copyright status, legality of copy and any licensing considerations. Any use outside of the exceptions will be evaluated under the doctrine of fair use.

Each item under copyright protection will be evaluated using the four fair use factors, which are:

• purpose (educational or for profit),
• nature of the work (creative/factual),
• amount used (small portion or entire work),
• effect on the market (loss of sales).

The law of fair use applies more narrowly to highly creative works, so the Library may choose not to accept for Reserve substantial excerpts from:

• novels,
• short stories,
• poetry,
• modern art images,
• other such materials.

Content should be restricted to only the amount of an item necessary for class. The less used, the more likely it is fair use. Be sure you have thought about:

• whether the use is integral to the pedagogical purpose
• whether the amount of the material used is appropriate to satisfy the use

Reserve should only include material that the instructor, the Library, or another unit of the educational institution lawfully owns. The Library will make reasonable efforts to purchase any materials required for teaching needs and will process copyright requests for faculty members. Copyright fees or article purchases will be paid for by the Library with a guideline of $50 per item or $200 per class. Costs beyond this may be referred back to the faculty member for departmental payment or other arrangements.

At the end of each semester, all material on Reserve will be removed unless it does not fall under copyright restrictions or permission has been obtained. For students with incompletes, the instructor must notify the Library to request extended access to needed course materials.

Access to materials shall be limited by password or other means to deter unauthorized access beyond students enrolled in the specific course for which the materials are needed. Each class will have a different username and password. The Library will provide the password to instructors or their designee. Course faculty should disseminate this information to the students in the class in a non-public manner.

All media requests for Reserve will be evaluated on a case by case basis. Though the Library attempts to purchase distribution rights with media materials, often licensing terms will supersede legal rights and fair use. An item must be required for the class to be considered for conversion to streaming. Please contact the Access Services Librarian with requests.

Materials requested for Reserve should include a full citation to the original source of publication.

The Library reserves the right to refuse materials if violation of copyright law is a concern.
For more information on copyright and a bibliography of sources use the Library's Copyright Tutorial