Memorial University

Memorial University Libraries

Course Reserves

Information for Students

Students can access Course Reserves in two ways:

  1. Log into your Brightspace course shell and find the Course Reserves link or widget.
  2. If your readings aren’t available via Brightspace, log in to the Course Reserves platform directly with your MUN Login ID. Select "All lists" from the main navigation menu and search for your course by course ID, course name, or instructor name.

Once you detemine which reserve items you need you can either open a PDF directly in the course reserve platform, click on the "View online" link or borrow any physical item that is available from the public services desk. 

Loan periods for Reserve items are determined by the instructor placing the item on reserve. Most items have a loan period of 2 hours, 1 day, 3 day or 1 week. 

Most Reserve items are available for overnight loan if they are signed out within 2 hours of the public services desk closing for the day. The item will be due back at 8:00am the next day. Staff will let you know if your item is able to be signed out over night.

Overdue reserve fines of $2 per hour are strictly enforced for all overdue items 

Instructor-owned personal copies placed on reserve are for in library use only and are not to leave the building. These items cannot be signed out overnight.

Information for Instructors: Submitting your Course Reserves

Our Course Reserves service helps to make course materials available to students at no cost to them, while respecting Canadian copyright law and university licensing agreements. Instructors can submit their syllabus or list of course readings and other course materials to their branch library and we do the rest.

Submitting your course readings and making them available to students through Brightspace is a two-step process: submitting your reading list for processing, and enabling your library reading list for your Brightspace course shell.

Step 1: Submit your reading list for processing

Email your syllabus or reading list with full citations to your branch library’s email before the service deadline. Please let us know:

  • The course name and course code
  • If you have personal copies of print items you’d like to place on print reserves

Once your request has been submitted, we will check for copyright clearance and ensure that all material shared with students is appropriately licensed. Where possible, we acquire permission for the use of materials not already covered by an existing licence or that exceed Memorial University's Fair Dealing requirements. We’ll make your course items available through the Course Reserves platform based on the service deadlines listed below.

Don’t create, edit, or copy a reading list in the Course Reserves platform yourself. We will process your reading lists and upload the materials on your behalf in order to ensure that we respect Canadian copyright law and university licensing agreements. Creating, editing, or copying content directly in the Course Reserves platform can result in a delay in your content being available to students while we review copyright and licensing information.

Memorial University is now using the library's Course Reserves system for copyright clearance for all course-related materials, including for online courses. See our Copyright FAQ for more information.

What kinds of items can I make available through Course Reserves?

We can make the following available to your students online in our reserves system:

  • Books and ebooks
  • Book chapters
  • Articles
  • Streaming video and audio
  • Images
  • Library resources like guides and databases
  • PowerPoints or other slide presentations
  • Course notes, handouts, and other materials

We can purchase items required for courses that fall within our collection development policy. We can digitize most print items, and have partnered with the Centre for Innovation in Teaching and Learning (CITL) to digitize DVDs needed for online courses, where possible.

Not all course materials can be acquired in an electronic format. For example, publishers do not make some types of ebooks, including most textbooks, available for purchase by libraries.

When items are not available electronically, we can also place print items on reserve at the Lending Services desk at your branch library. We can also put personal copies of your materials on reserve.

Service deadlines

Course reading lists will be processed in the order in which they are received. To ensure that your materials are available by the start of each semester, submit your syllabus or reading list to your branch library at least 2 weeks before the start date of the semester.

We can’t guarantee that submissions received after this deadline will be ready by the start of the semester. Late submissions can be processed week-by-week, so our staff will make each week’s readings available on a rolling basis.

Physical items like print books will be moved to course reserves at the service desk as soon as possible. We may contact you to determine the appropriate loan period for these items.

Step 2: Linking your reading list in Brightspace

The Course Reserves service is a collaboration between CITL and the Libraries. After sending the course syllabus to the Libraries, instructors must enable their reading list within a course’s Brightspace shell for each course for each semester. Instructions on how to enable your list in Brightspace are available from CITL.

If you need help enabling your lists or want any further support using Brightspace, contact the Academic Support Representative (ASR) for your academic unit or the CITL Support Centre.

Course reserves contacts

Submit your course syllabi or reading lists to the email address for your branch library. If you have questions about this service, you can also direct them here.