Faculty Guide to ReservesEXpress

ReservesEXpress is Helmke Library's course reserve service, providing student access to supplementary course materials assigned by faculty. The electronic format gives students access to their reserve readings 24 hours a day, seven days a week from home or campus computers. The system also provides usage data to faculty and assures a secure system for managing copyrighted materials.

Items are scanned and made available online unless copyright restrictions or format limitations prevent digitization or accessibility for students with disabilities. Books, DVDs and other physical items may be made available for checkout.

Deadlines and Limits

Materials are processed in the order of receipt and may be submitted at any time during the semester. Due to the large number of items submitted at the beginning of each semester, we suggest the following lead times to allow adequate processing time

• Fall semester – 30 days
• Spring semester – 30 days
• Summer sessions – 15 days
• During the semester – allow two weeks for processing

Please note that there is a limit of 25 items total per course reserve per semester (including all additions and deletions).

Submission Process

All reserves requests must be submitted electronically.

1. Sign on using your network username and password. Contact Information Technology Services if you do not have or know your network password. Contact the Helmke Library Service Desk if you are an instructor denied access to instructor pages.
2. Identify the course for which you are submitting reserve readings. Courses you are teaching this semester should display. If not, contact the Helmke Library Service Desk.
3. Submit a request for a new or previously used item to add to your course reserve. Page-specific help is located in the upper right-hand corner of each page.
4. Answer copyright questions.
5. Print the request form and submit the item and any required copyright permissions along with a copy of the submission form. If the reserve item is from a book, please send the book.  If it is not possible to obtain a book, provide a clear photocopy of the title page and the page(s) addressing copyright and the desired chapter.

Copyright and Fair Use

Fair use of copyrighted material will be followed for all reserve materials, whether or not they are digitized on ReservesEXpress. In general, first use is fair use. Instructors are responsible for seeking and managing copyright permissions when required. Consult the library's ReservesEXpress Copyright FAQ for information about obtaining copyright permissions. A sample letter to request copyright permission is also available here. As the instructor you must present the letter granting permission to use copyrighted materials to a Service Desk supervisor. The letter will be scanned and returned to you for your file. The library is not responsible for any copyright royalty fees.

Personal Items

Safeguarding personal items is a primary concern of Service Desk staff. However, the library cannot assume liability for damage to or loss of an instructor's personal property. University regulations do not allow us to charge students for damage or loss of non-university property.

Electronic Resources

Electronic materials not owned by the library in printed format may not be scanned but they may be linked to ReservesEXpress from a licensed database. Library staff will link to the available page image (PDF) copies of specific articles whenever possible. In some cases, however, durable links to electronic copies of journal articles cannot be established. In this case, instructors are advised to provide linking information to students on their syllabus or eLearning pages.

Links to Web pages may be added to ReservesEXpress. Instructors are responsible for providing complete Web addresses and maintaining them. eLearning is a preferred option for these materials.

Instructors who prefer to use eLearning may link to library databases using EZProxy. In order to link to resources for off-campus users, the following text must be included at the beginning of a URL:

http://ezproxy.library.ipfw.edu/login?url=

For example, a link to EBSCO Academic Search Premier will look like:

http://ezproxy.library.ipfw.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?authtype=ip,uid&profile=EHOST&defaultdb=aph

Scanning

Purdue's Web Accessibility Policy requires that "all new and redesigned Web pages published by a Purdue University college, department, program or unit" must conform to standards established for complying with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act (29 U.S.C. 794d). Purdue's interpretation of the new guidelines affects the materials that may be scanned into REX.

To comply with Section 508 guidelines, anything to be scanned for reserves must be machine readable to ensure accessibility for people with disabilities. Scanning software uses OCR (optical character recognition) to provide transcripts of the text which can then be translated to audio files for the sight-impaired. Many artifacts of scanning prevent intelligible OCR transcripts. The following are new guidelines for submitting materials to be scanned for REX.

• No handwritten notes or fonts resembling handwriting. Underlined text or handwritten margin notes must be erased. If the markings were done in ink, or you prefer that your notes not be erased, another copy will have to be obtained.
• OCR frequently does not recognize math and science symbols. Tables may also present problems. Unless a document has been created to be machine readable, it may not be posted in REX.
• Photocopies of articles or chapters may not scan or convert well to OCR. Supply an original source to the library for scanning. If photocopies are the only option, they should be clean, of high quality with no dark edges, and have a 1/4-inch margin surrounding all sides of the text.
• Paper size should be standard letter size (8-1/2" x 11").
• Paper orientation should be consistent. Prepare each item entirely in either portrait or landscape format.
• Articles or chapters should not have shaded areas or dark backgrounds.
• Concerning materials that have been on REX previous semesters, the library staff will attempt to convert the scans to OCR. Items that cannot be made machine readable cannot be re-used. Faculty may download the PDFs from REX for personal retention. Contact Graham Fredrick (481-6505) for assistance.

Course Packs and eLearning

Printing Services offers a course pack service. Contact them by telephone, 481-6801, or e-mail at printsrv@ipfw.edu  for information. Commercial course pack companies, such as XanEdu.com may also be used.

Materials more appropriate for course packs include:

• Texts that exceed 10% of the total assigned reading for a particular course.
• Multiple parts of larger works, for example several chapters from a book or multiple articles from a single issue of a journal not available electronically.
• Copies of various works or excerpts that together constitute an anthology, compilation, or collective work.
• Any material for which a copyright royalty must be paid.

Materials generally more appropriate for delivery through eLearning include:

• All instructor-prepared materials such as syllabi, sample quizzes, course notes.
• Student papers meant to be shared with other students.
• Publisher-supplied materials that accompany assigned textbooks.
• Time-sensitive materials.
• Links to Web resources.

Information for Students

Students may use any IPFW or home/office computer to access ReservesEXpress from the Helmke Library's homepage.

No special passwords are required for ReservesEXpress. Students log in using their IPFW computer usernames and passwords and will only have access to their current courses.

Students who have not activated their accounts may do so using my.ipfw.edu .

The ReservesEXpress system will notify students when an item is not available online, but must be checked out at the Service Desk. A Mastodon Card is required to check out any library materials. Mastodon cards are available at the Walb Student Union Information Desk.

The week after finals, all items will be removed from the current course reserves. Personal items will be returned via campus mail. ReservesEXpress online items will be archived. Faculty have access to lists of previously used reserve items. To use an item again, select the needed item and answer the questions about copyright, and if necessary submit new permission forms.

Questions?

For more information about ReservesEXpress contact:

• Joyce Saltsman, 260-481-4137 - Service Desk Manager
• Debra Haley, 260-481-4138 - Service Desk Assistant Manager
• Graham Fredrick, 260-481-6505 - Information Assistant and DDS/Service Desk Technical Assistant
• Paula Henderson, 260-481-6505 - Information Assistant - Document Delivery Services/Evening Supervisor
• Deborah Kelley, 260-481-6505 - Information Assistant
• Blaine Thompson, 260-481-6505 - Information Assistant

Created by: J. Saltsman and J. Violette
Date created: 2002-07-12
Date revised: 2002-12-04
Date revised:  2012-06-21