Guide to Using the Course Reserves System
Student Information: Accessing Course Reserves
The AOK Library is now using Blackboard (Bb) to make course materials available through physical and electronic Course Reserves. Please log into Bb and click on the Library Reserves link under the Course Content or Course Materials section of your course to view the materials your instructor has placed on reserve for your class.
Items available electronically simply means you can read, view, or listen to them from your device. If the item is a physical copy of a book, CD or DVD, it is available in house at the library. Loan periods for items available at the library vary from 3 hours to 7 days depending on the item. Please stop by the Check-Out desk with your UMBC ID card and the call number of the item(s) you wish to borrow.
Questions? Contact your instructor or email reserves-group@umbc.edu or call 410-455-2234.
Faculty Information: Accessing Course Reserves
The AOK Library is now using Blackboard (Bb) to make course materials available through physical and electronic Course Reserves. Submit all course reserves requests directly from your course site in Bb.
Information on submitting materials for course reserves can be found on our instructor’s guide page.
- Accessing your Course Reserves Content
The AOK Library course reserves now interfaces with Blackboard. This integration means one login and increased productivity for you and your students. You can set and receive reminders and create tags, and students can add favorites, export citations, and download readings. Simply login to myUMBC and open the Blackboard (Bb) link to get started.
- Creating your Course Reserves Content
The first time you use the system, be sure the Library Reserves link is added to the desired content area of your Bb course. Information on submitting materials for course reserves, including copyright guidelines, can be found on our instructor’s guide page.
- Copying your Course Reserves Content
The new Blackboard integration improves how you copy course materials between semesters. Information on how to copy reserve items between courses can be found on our instructor’s guide page.
When copying course materials:
- You do not have to submit a new request for the copied item(s).
- For electronic materials, you do not have to bring a photocopy of the copied reading to the library for scanning. The scanned reading from our archives will be used.
- For personal copies, please bring the item to the Check-Out Desk in the library, unless it was used during the immediate past semester.
- For hard copy reserves (books or media), staff will pull from the stacks, or for faster processing, you may bring them to the Check-Out desk.
Content from UCORES is no longer available, but please contact library reserves staff at reserves-group@umbc.edu for help locating old citations and documents.
- Allowing enrolled students to view your Course Reserves Content
Similarly to you submitting and posting course materials in Bb, access for your students is via Bb as well. Enrolled students will have access to course materials that display an “available” status for the duration of the semester. If you want to adjust access to a particular electronic item, be sure to edit the “start” and or “stop” dates when submitting your request for that item.
Physical (hardcopy) reserve materials are available for check-out during library hours.
Questions? Email reserves-group@umbc.edu, call 410-455-2234 or stop by the Check-Out desk at the Library.
Accessibility
UMBC is committed to creating an accessible and inclusive environment for all students, staff, and visitors. If you have difficulties accessing any of the materials on our site, please contact us so that we can provide an alternative format and remedy any accessibility challenges.
We strongly encourage all instructors to consider accessibility when choosing course materials. For example:
- Do you know if there are digital versions available of the materials you are reserving so that students can access the content in their preferred modality?
- Do you know if the digital documents you are reserving are accessible?
For additional information on how to check if your documents are accessible:
http://www.sjsu.edu/cfd/docs/Is_My_Document_Accessible.pdf
Items on reserve that have been scanned from our collection or linked from our databases should be accessible. If there are problems with any of these materials, please let us know.
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Faculty Guide for Submitting
Submit all course reserves requests directly from your course site in Bb.
Requests for course reserve materials should be submitted at least two weeks before students will need them for class. If the AOK Library does not own an item, or if the item is currently on loan, please allow additional time for ordering and processing.
Electronic Reserves
Before submitting content for ereserves, please review our copyright policy.
Course reserve material in electronic format will become available immediately upon submission, providing they do not require obtaining copyright permission and your course available dates are in effect. For articles and streaming content, we strongly encourage you to use sources to which the library subscribes. Requests that require library staff to scan materials may have a longer turnaround time.
Things you can do to help our staff process reserves faster:
- Enter the complete citation for each request.
- Insert links for articles and ebooks from our databases when possible instead of uploading PDFs.
- Bring us the source we will need to create PDFs.
Hard Copy Reserves
You may place items from the AOK Library's general collection on course reserves with a loan period ranging from three (3) hours to seven (7) days. Books borrowed from other libraries cannot be placed on course reserves.
Library staff are willing to pull items from the stacks to place on reserve, but this involves extra steps that will increase processing time. Things you can do to help our staff process reserves faster:
- Enter the complete citation for each request and include the library call number.
- Retrieve materials from the stacks and bring them to the Check-Out desk with the instructor’s name and course number.
- Deliver personal copies of items soon after submitting your request.
Media Reserves
The media collection is located on the second floor of the library. You may place items from the AOK Library media collection on course reserves with a loan period ranging from three (3) hours to seven (7) days.
- Original copies of media owned by the instructor may be placed on course reserves.
- Media items borrowed from other libraries or from the UMBC Special Collections cannot be placed on course reserves.
- Please include the library call number (UMDVD#, UMCD#, etc.) when submitting new requests.
For questions about course reserves, please contact reserves-group@umbc.edu or call 410-455-2234.
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