Using GMU E-Reserves

 

Electronic Reserves (E-Reserves) is a password-protected, online document repository, administered by the University Libraries, which allows instructors to share materials with students registered in their classes.  You may use E-Reserves to share documents that are not copyrighted, and—with restrictions—documents that are copyrighted.

Federal Copyright Law

If you would like to make a selection of published, copyrighted material available to your students via any method—photocopying, WebCT, or GMU Electronic Reserves option—you should begin by reviewing the material on copyright laws posted at http://oscr.gmu.edu/

All faculty members are responsible for working within federal copyright laws.

The guidelines described briefly here are intended as basic reminders of the information posted at the link noted above, and do not cover every situation.  Copyright regulation is a murky area, but at its best, it is intended to protect the rights of authors, and so faculty members in English are particularly encouraged to abide by both the spirit and the letter of the laws.

Material in online databases

Students can be directed to read and download materials found in the GMU Library's password-protected online databases without  going through E-Reserves or seeking any additional permission.

Especially in the case of essays, articles, and other short works that you wish students to read, please spend some time checking GMU's electronic databases, since many articles that were published separately in mainstream media and journals may already be available online (try the "E-Journal-Finder" tool on the library's web page).

First-time vs. repeated use of material

If you are using a selection for the first time for a particular course number—and it meets the other guidelines below—it most likely will fall under the "Fair Use" qualification that allows you to use it educationally without seeking copyright permission to use the selection.

If you are using a selection that you have used previously in the same course, and it meets the other guidelines, the University Libraries will usually seek copyright permission on your behalf. 

If you choose to make material available beyond a first-time use via other means—photocopying or posting to another website—YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE for securing permission for this repeated use.

Submitting a request for E-Reserves

Forms for submitting electronic reserve requests are available at the website noted above; you will need to complete the form to accompany your request.  You will also need to submit clean photocopies (not PDFs) of the material along with bibliographic citations for each selection. 

You should allow at least three weeks, especially at the start of a semester, for the materials to be made available on e-reserve.

General overview of fair-use guidelines for E-Reserves

In most cases, you may submit photocopies of the following kinds of materials to be scanned and placed on electronic reserve:

• any original course handouts or materials written by you
  
• student papers, as long as you have (and present) each student-writer's written permission to share his/her paper(s) with other students
  
• articles in magazines or journals (provided they're not already available on a GMU database)—up to three titles from the same journal
  
• a single selection from a book, as long as it is no longer than one chapter or 10% of the book's length—and as long as it's the only one from that book you use during the semester (you cannot put up several chapters one at a time as the semester goes along!)
  
• a single selection from an anthology—such as an edited book containing academic essays, a composition reader, or a collection of short fiction—as long as the selection is no longer than 10% of the anthology, and the selection is the only one you use from that anthology that semester

Other policies and restrictions

If another instructor has already placed a selection on e-reserve that you want your students to view, your students may be directed to that electronic copy.  So if you and a friend are hoping to use the same article, you only need to submit one photocopy (though both of you will need to submit a request form).

You may be limited to no more than 30 selections total for e-reserves for your course. 

Some additional restrictions may apply; the librarians consider each request as it comes in.

If you have questions about other kinds of sources, or about using regular Course Reserves (for material such as books, audio/video items, or other media), please contact the circulation/reserves manager.