Copyright: Course Reserves

Course reserves allows instructors to designate certain materials, either in print or online, for students who are enrolled in a particular course.  These materials can be found through the library's website, and links can also be integrated with D2L.

Physical reserves includes physical course materials, such as DVDs and books, and are held at the access services desk at the library for limited check-out periods, so that they are generally available for the entire class.

E-Reserves can include articles, book chapters, movies, and other media that are available online only for students who are enrolled in a specific course.

Any item made available through course reserves must be evaluated by the instructor for compliance with US copyright law.

In compliance with the Agreement on Guidelines for Classroom Copying in Not-for-Profit Educational Institutions With Respect to Books and Periodicals (H.R. 94-1476) and Section 107 Fair Use (Title 17, U.S. Code) of the Copyright Act of 1976 the following policy will be applied to copyrighted materials to be placed on reserve.

Copyrighted materials that may be placed on reserve without obtaining copyright permission for a single class and a single quarter:

1. Items within the library's databases, including articles, e-books, and videos.
2. An article from a periodical or newspaper;
3. A short story, essay or short poem, whether or not from a collective work;
4. A chart, graph, diagram, drawing, cartoon or picture from a book, periodical or newspaper;
5. Government publications.

Copyrighted materials that may not be placed on reserve:

1. A photocopy of an entire book that is in print;
2. Multiple articles from a single journal issue for a single class
3. "Consumables" like workbooks or standardized tests.

Copyrighted materials may be placed on reserve for one quarter only.

• If the instructor wishes to keep copyrighted materials on reserve for consecutive quarters, please place a new reserves request.

Requesting Books

• If a selection of a book is submitted to course reserves, the library will attempt to acquire access to an unlimited users e-book. If that is unavailable the library will confirm that no more than 1 chapter or 10% of the book has been requested, whichever is greater and will either upload the submitted PDF or digitize the requested selection.

Requesting Articles

• By submitting a PDF of an article to the library for course reserves, you are confirming that the use of that article within your course is in compliance with DePaul’s Copyright and Fair Use Policy and with Fair Use guidelines. In accordance with DePaul’s policies, the Library does not evaluate copyright status of submitted PDFs of articles and faculty are responsible for ensuring the material used within courses is in compliance.   

Digitization of Audio and Video Content

The Library will not offer full digitization of media for course reserves based on guidance from DePaul's Office of the General Counsel on Fair Use guidelines and the Teach Act.

Under the law, up to 10% of an audio or visual material may be digitized (as a reasonable and limited portion of media).

For more information on copyright, please see the University's policy on Copyright and Fair Use and the Teaching Commons page on Copyright and the Classroom.

If you have a question for the reserves department, please send us an email: reserves@depaul.edu