Faculty Guidelines for FAU Course Reserves

For videos and other audiovisual materials, please consult the Media Center's Reserve Policy.

General Policies

FAU Libraries Course Reserves respects fair use, the rights of copyright holders, and copyright law.

FAU Electronic Course Reserves (eReserves) is a library service provided for students.

Students will not be charged for access to reserve materials.

In accordance with copyright law, patron authentication will be required for access to the FAU course reserve materials in the catalog. Students MUST have an OWL CARD.
All materials placed on course reserve are for the noncommercial and educational use of students.
FAU faculty must legibly fill out all forms in their entirety.
All requests must include a complete citation and a photocopy of the book's copyright page.
Please allow up to 7 days for reserve request to be processed. Materials for reserve are processed in the order in which they are received. NO RUSH ORDERS.
Requests that require the Course Reserve Team to get permission from the copyright holder, such as electronic or paper reproductions of chapters or articles, may take longer than 7 days to process.
All materials placed on reserve will be reproduced from lawfully obtained copies.
Only limited amounts of copyrighted material may be reproduced for reserve (see Specific Guidelines below).
The FAU Libraries Course Reserves Team must use the library's licensed full-text electronic resources in place of reproducing copyrighted material.
The FAU Libraries Course Reserves Team will pull books from the library's collection.
Faculty can request the FAU Libraries Course Reserves Team to make photocopies; however, this may significantly delay request processing.
The FAU Libraries Course Reserves Team must deny requests that do not meet these guidelines or fail to comply with copyright law.
FAU faculty may place personal items on Course Reserves. The Access or Public Services staff will strive to ensure that material is handled properly, but the FAU Libraries cannot be held responsible for the abuse, destruction, loss, and/or theft of personal items placed on Course Reserves.

I teach this course each semester or every other semester. Can I just leave my requests on permanent course reserve?
Unfortunately, no. The premise of this question violates the properties of fair use. In accordance with copyright law, the FAU Libraries Course Reserves Team is not legally permitted to maintain access to copyrighted materials when class is not in session. In addition, copyright permission must be renewed EVERY SEMESTER and there is no guarantee permission will be granted. It is also a violation to place or keep materials in Course Reserves if the course is not being currently taught.

I want to request that the library purchase a book for its collection and place that book on Course Reserves for my class. How do I do that?
After you submit the request to the library to purchase a book for the Boca Raton or Jupiter campus library, fill out and submit a Reserve Request Form (Boca Raton or Jupiter). Once the book is arrives, the Course Reserves Team will place make it available for your class. However, if you do not submit a Reserve Request Form, the Course Reserve Team may not know that you requested the book and wanted it placed on Course Reserves.

I need more than 20% of a book posted electronically. Can I post 15% now, and then take that down and post another 15% from the same book?
Fair use is considered on a semester basis; therefore we cannot post successive portions totaling more than 20% of any single work within the same semester.

Does copyright law affect materials that are out of print?
Out of print materials are subject to the same copyright guidelines.

I’ve used this material before. Why was my request denied?
Publishers or other rights holders' permission policies often change. Previously posted readings may not be granted permission in the future.

What other options do I have?
If the electronic request was denied, by request a hard copy of the book or journal may be placed on reserve.
If a reading was taken from an anthology or other collection, consider using the original source. Permission is generally sought for a source and not a specific article or chapter.

Find alternate material. Please contact Ken Frankel, Head, Research and Instructional Services at frankel@fau.edu, phone: (561) 297-0079 or Dawn Frood, Collection Development Librarian at dfrood@fau.edu, phone: (561) 297-3168. They can provide assistance in locating other useful material for your course.

If you would prefer to check the permission criteria before submitting the request to the FAU Libraries Course Reserves Team, please visit:

https://librarycopyright.net/resources/digitalslider/index.html
http://fairuse.stanford.edu/charts_tools/
http://www.copyright.com. Click on GET PERMISSION.

Specific Guidelines

Copyright Guidelines for course reserves are required to comply with U.S. Code: Title 17, Section 107 governing Fair Use (see Sec. 107. Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use below). Specifically, any reproduction of copyrighted material placed on course reserve will conform to the following:

Materials placed on course reserve will not exceed 20% of the total page count of any book and no more than two chapters from a single source will be accepted.
Journal article submissions must not exceed two articles from any single issue of a journal.
Materials placed on course reserve will be made available during the current semester only.
Materials placed on course reserve for any subsequent semester for the same course/instructor will require copyright permission renewal.
The FAU Library Reserve Team will secure the Copyright permission through the Copyright Clearance Center.

A Note About Anthologies
Generally, requests to reproduce materials from anthologies that are marketed exclusively for academic audiences will be denied. Although not always easily identifiable, examples of such anthologies include Norton, Heath, and Bedford anthologies. Reproducing material from such sources may be considered as having a direct negative impact on the market for such material (see number 4 under U.S. Code: Title 17, sec. 107 below). Copyright permission from anthologies is rarely, if ever, approved by the Copyright Clearance Center; therefore always submit photocopies from the original source.

Sec. 107. Limitations On Exclusive Rights: Fair Use
Fair use of a copyrighted work for the following purposes is not considered an infringement of copyright: criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.

The factors for determining fair use include:

The purpose and character of the use, either educational or commercial
The nature of the copyrighted work
The percentage used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole
The effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

Note: U.S. Copyright Law concerning electronic reserves is continually evolving. The FAU Reserve Team will monitor legal developments that may affect fair use and electronic reserves to ensure that we are in compliance with the law. For more information, please visit http://fairuse.stanford.edu/ or http://www.copyright.gov/.

Online Reserve Request Forms

Please use the following electronic forms to place materials on reserve. Please submit the item in person, through interoffice mail, or as an email attachment. Forms must be filled out legibly and in their entirety, including complete bibliographic information.

Broward Campuses:
Contact: TBA

Contact Us

PLEASE NOTE: Reserve requests for physical books must be sent to your local campus Reserve Team. Electronic reserve requests and materials must be sent to the Reserve Team at the S. E. Wimberly Library in Boca Raton.

Location: Service Desk, FAU Libraries, Boca Raton Campus
Mail: Reserve - LY 137
Phone: 561-297-2632
Email: lyreserv@fau.edu
Reserve Team: Ninoska Worrell
Head of Access Services: Steven C. Matthew

Comments? Suggestions? Questions? Please email us!

Please see our departmental web page for more information on Access Services.