The Reserve Collection exists to ensure access to high demand materials for student use.  The heavy use of items in this collection is accommodated through very short loan periods and, sometimes, the requirement that materials be used in the library. Each of the university's seven campus libraries maintains a reserve collection.

• Find Course Reserve Lists for your classes
• Fair dealing is an exception in the Copyright Act that allows the copying of published works under copyright protection that can be made in print or electronic format for the purposes of research, private study, review, criticism, or news reporting.  Any other use may be an infringement of copyright if done without securing the permission of the copyright owner.
• Prior to checking out a paper copy, you must acknowledge in paper or electronic form that you are a student enrolled in a course of instruction at the university and that your request for reserve materials is for the purposes of research, private study, review, criticism, or news reporting and that you will not use the paper copy for any other purposes (AUCC Fair Dealing Guidelines, 16 (d)). 
• There is a limit of 5 items per borrower because of high demand
• There are a variety of reserve loan periods.  Please contact your branch library for details
• Renewals and recalls are not permitted on items in the Reserve Collection
• Due to heavy use and high demand for Reserve materials, borrowers who fail to return Reserve items on time are fined at the rate of $1.00 per hour to a maximum of $50.00 per item. Reserve items must be returned to the library from which they were borrowed.  Note:  If students fail to pay their fines, their marks and transcripts will be withheld and they will be prevented from registering in future courses until the fines are satisfied

Submitting Reserves Lists for a Class

For submission forms, or to contact a Reserve Supervisor about your list, please contact your branch library: 

• Education & Music Library

• Engineering Library

• Health Sciences Library

• Law Library

• Murray Library

• Natural Sciences Library

• Veterinary Medicine Library

Types of Materials Accepted for Reserve Collection

The reserve collection consists of original materials such as books and journals, DVDs, CDs, maps, etc. from the University Library's collections and original works authored by faculty including lab manuals and course notes. Print copies of book chapters or journal articles may be placed on reserve subject to fair dealing guidelines prepared by the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC). Sections of the AUCC Fair Dealing Guidelines are referenced below. Electronic resources appear in reserve collections as persistent links, but not electronic copies.

Paper Copies of Journal Articles or Book Chapters

One paper copy for each 30 students in a course of instruction is allowed up to a maximum of 3 paper copies (AUCC Fair Dealing Guidelines, Section 16). For example, for 18 students, 1 paper copy is allowed: for 61 students, 3 copies are allowed.

[Paper] Copies are made as an optional and supplementary source of information for students and must be no more than 25% of the required reading for a particular course (AUCC Fair Dealing Guidelines, 16 (b)).

The faculty member requesting that paper copies be placed on reserve for a specific course of instruction signs a form acknowledging that the paper copies are made as an optional and supplementary source of information for students and that the copies amount to no more than 25% of the required reading for the course (AUCC Fair Dealing Guidelines, 16 (b)). The form may refer to one item for Reserve or several items for Reserve that are described on an attached list.

The use of library reserve must not substitute for the purchase of books, course packs or other published materials (AUCC Fair Dealing Guidelines, 16 (c)).

Prior to checking out a paper copy, the student must acknowledge in paper or electronic form that the purpose for requesting reserve materials is a fair dealing purpose (AUCC Fair Dealing Guidelines, 16 (d)).

All paper copies of copyrighted materials owned by the University Library placed on Reserve will be destroyed at the end of the session or term (AUCC Fair Dealing Guidelines, 16 (g)).

For paper copies of copyrighted materials not owned by the University Library, the faculty member is required to obtain written permission from the copyright holder to place the item on Reserve. Form letters for permission are found on the U of S Copyright website. Personal paper copies will be returned to the faculty member. Please be advised that the University Library will not be liable for loss or damage to any personal items that you choose to put in the Reserve Collection.

At the end of each term, statistics on the use of Reserve materials, by course, are sent to the instructor.  Branch libraries have different usage criteria for removing low use items from Reserve for the next term.

Links to Electronic Resources

Links to electronic resources may appear in the University Library's courses pages, PAWS courses pages, or on Blackboard.  You may check with your Liaison Librarian to ensure that the license for the electronic resource allows linking.  Instruction for making persistent links is found at Copyright LibGuide.

Fines

There are a variety of reserve loan periods available.  Please contact your branch library for details.

Due to heavy use and high demand for Reserve materials, borrowers who fail to return Reserve items on time are fined at the rate of $1.00 per hour to a maximum of $50.00 per item. Reserve items must be returned to the library from which they were borrowed. Note:  If students fail to pay their fines, their marks and transcripts will be withheld and they will be prevented from registering in future courses until the fines are satisfied. In the case of faculty, borrowing privileges may be suspended.