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Using Electronic Reserves

Photo of students in the Course Reserves Section of the Library.

 

University Park and World Campus instructors: E-Reserves does not perform onsite scanning. Scans of requested materials must be emailed to ul-reserveshelp@psu.edu by the requesting party after submitting the request form.

Book Selections

As a general rule, no more than 15% of the total pages in a book or monograph can be posted on electronic reserve over the course of a semester. We can post more than 15% of works that are in the Public Domain, and works for which the copyright holder allows the use of a larger amount in writing. Please note: Posting unpublished documents on electronic reserve requires the written permission of the author(s).

 

Sending Files

We will accept .pdf .html, .doc, .rtf, .ppt and other documents in electronic format. These items will be converted into accessible pdfs for students who have low vision or text disorders.

To send e-reserve files to the appropriate staff, please follow these steps:

  1. When filling out the Electronic Reserve Request Form, choose the option (in the Contact Information box) to receive a copy of your request via email.
  2. After you receive the request, open it and use "Reply All" to start a new message.
  3. Attach the files to the message and send.
    • Please use descriptive file names that can be readily matched with the request form citations.

 

Scanning PDF Documents

File size is important to keep in mind when scanning, particularly for students accessing e-reserves off-campus, possibly through a slow connection. We recommend that files be no larger than 5 MB.

 

Journal Articles

As a general rule no more than two articles from any single issue of a journal or magazine can be posted on electronic reserve over the course of a semester. This limit does not apply to articles that are available online (either through the University Libraries' licensed resources or on the open Web), are in the Public Domain, or for which the copyright holder allows the use of the article in writing.

 

Full-text Articles

We can create durable links to full-text articles available through most, but not all, of the Libraries' licensed databases. You may also link directly to these databases from the course syllabus and/or module with our Link Builder Widget and Building Durable Links tutorial.

We may link to any number of articles in a single issue of a journal/magazine available through a licensed database.

Use our search to determine if a journal or periodical is available through one of the Libraries' licensed databases. (Note: If your search is successful, be sure to check that the Coverage Dates range includes the volume/year you are looking for.)

PDFs are not required for articles available through a licensed database.

 

Links to External Webpages/Documents

E-Reserves does not make links to external webpages/documents. Place links to these items directly in the syllabus and/or module.

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