Course Reserves for Instructors

Submitting Course Reserves

There are two ways to submit course reserve requests at any of our libraries via our reserves staff or via Canvas.

NOTE: If you will be using electronic reserves (e-books, scanned articles, web links, or streaming video), you must request a Canvas site for your course via the Faculty Center in order for those items to be accessed by your students through course reserves.

In the event that streaming media content requested from the Library for instruction is not available online, DVD and Blu-ray media can be placed on physical reserve at the Olin Library circulation desk. Dedicated video players for viewing physical media are also available for loan at Olin Library.

Submit via Canvas

Using Canvas to submit reserve items will automatically place them in the appropriate reserves processing queue. If you have not already done so, you will need to request a Canvas page for your current course via the Faculty Center before submitting or reactivating reserve items this way.

If you are in a time crunch or would just prefer not to fill out request forms, you can also submit a list or syllabus directly to reserves staff.

  1. Once your current course’s Canvas page has been created, log in to Canvas using your Cornell NetID, and navigate to your course.
  2. On the course page, choose “Library Reserves” from the left-side menu.
  3. Click “Add Requests“, then using the item icons below, choose the type of item you would like to place on reserve (you can hover over each icon to see a more detailed description).
  4. Fill out the form, choose your course or courses from the table below, and click “Submit Item.””
  5. If you see your item listed under “Your Requests“, it has been submitted successfully and will now be processed by reserves staff at the library you have selected.
  1. On your course’s Canvas page, choose “Library Reserves” from the left-side menu.
  2. Under “Your Requests“, the current processing status of each item is shown in a column to the right.
  3. If an item has the status “Awaiting Reserves Processing”, you can edit or delete it by clicking on the item, then choosing “Edit this item” or “Delete this item” on the page that follows. If you wish to edit an item that is marked with a status other than “Awaiting Reserves Processing”, you will need to contact reserves staff for assistance.

Submit via Reserves Staff

Email your list to reserves staff, or reactivate reserve items

We are happy to accept your reserve list via email. You can send us the Course Reserves Submission Form (DOC), or simply email a list or syllabus to reserves staff at your library, along with any special instructions, and we’ll take it from there.

If you have taught your course before and will be reusing some or all of your reserve items, the simplest option is to contact reserves staff at your preferred library and ask us to reactivate your course. Please specify the last time you taught the course and be sure to let us know if there are any items you would like to add or remove from your reserves list.

Note that depending on the number of new items being added to the course, emailing requests to reserves staff may require some extra time for processing, but we will be glad to assist you!  Alternatively, you can add or reactivate items via Canvas if you prefer.

Additional Information for Instructors

Staff work hard to process all requests for course reserves.  If you submit multiple requests, please let us know the priority order for those items as this will help when processing items.

To ensure availability for the first day of classes, all reserves should be submitted by the following dates:

  • Fall semester: August 3
  • Winter sessions: December 1
  • Spring semester: December 15
  • Summer session: 4 weeks before the start of the session
  • E-books, media, journal articles, book chapters, syllabi, practice exams, lecture notes and audio files.
  • Electronic items, including items found in course packets, must meet Copyright Fair Use Guidelines (PDF) or have the permission of the copyright holder for this type of use.
  • Access to course reserve materials must be restricted to members of the class, and access must be terminated at the end of final exams.
  • Reproduced (scanned or photocopied) materials should include proper attribution and include the original work’s copyright statement. If no statement can be found, a standard statement of copyright protection may be used.
  • For questions specifically dealing with electronic reserves for audio, the Music Library endorses the Statement on the Digital Transmission of Audio Reserves issued by the Music Library Association.

If the library does not currently own an item that you would like placed on reserve, we will purchase the item. Please submit a request for this material just as you would an item that the library does own.

Electronic Reserves: Students can access electronic reserves under the “Library Reserves” menu link on their course’s Canvas site.

NOTE: Only material that has been placed on reserve through the library can be accessed via the “Library Reserves” link. Articles or other readings that have been uploaded to Canvas by the instructor will be found in a different location as specified by the instructor.