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Course Reserves

For Instructors

Course Reserves gives students access to books, films, and other materials for their classes through the UCSC Library. Let us know what your students need for your course and we'll do our best to make your requested materials available through Course Reserves!

Informing Students

Tell your students about Course Reserves! Many students are brand new to using reserves and may be unfamiliar with how to acquire reserve materials. Some ways you can let them know that you've made your course materials available are:

  • Including a Course Reserves link on Canvas
  • Adding the link to your syllabus and/or website
  • Sending an email or creating a post through Piazza/ED
  • In-class announcement and reminders

Important Dates

At least three weeks before classes begin, please submit your course reserves request form. Doing so gives us time to purchase, gather, and process materials.

Course Reserves Deadline :

  • Wednesday, March 5th for Spring Quarter 2025

Reserve Loan Periods

You can choose from 3 reserve loan periods:

  • 2-hours
  • 24-hours
  • 72-hours

Note: For larger classes (recommended for classes of 70+ students), we encourage instructors to use a 2-hour reserve loan period. This allows for greater access to reserve materials.

eBooks

Does the library already have an eBook you want to use for your class? Let us know by submitting a Book Reserves Request form. Our team can then ensure that the number of simultaneous users is suitable for your class size.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Items commonly placed on reserve include, but are not limited to: textbooks and other monographs, lab keys, homework/solutions, book chapters, journal articles, and music scores. Videos, DVDs, and CDs can be placed on reserve at the Media Desk in McHenry Library.
Yes. The library accepts personal copies of books and other materials for reserve. Please email bookreserves@ucsc.edu to start this process.

Note: Instructors are cautioned to make this decision with care as items may be lost or damaged by borrowers. The reserves staff will use tape on the spine and on the front of the book to label it for library lending. Unless requested to be placed on permanent reserve, personal items will be returned through campus mail at the end of the quarter.
Yes. If the library doesn't own the requested item, we will purchase it. The Course Reserves team prioritizes purchasing unlimited-user eBook licenses whenever possible. When institutional eBook licenses (whether limited or unlimited) are unavailable, we will order a print copy.
If the library already owns multiple copies of a title, we will place all copies on reserve. If we need to order a print copy, we will purchase a single edition, unless the book is being used in multiple courses, in which case we order one copy per class.
Yes, please email bookreserves@ucsc.edu to start this process.
We do not have a limit. However, we encourage instructors to only request ten or more items if all items are required reading/viewing.
Potentially. We do our best to purchase eBook licenses with the greatest number of simultaneous users whenever possible. There are instances when we can purchase additional eBook licenses. Please email bookreserves@ucsc.edu with questions related to increasing limited-user eBook licenses.
Items can be placed on permanent reserve as long as they are on reserve for a course that is taught two or more times per academic year. The Reserves team reviews this collection every 2-3 years to ensure that it is current and the titles are still being used.
If an item is requested for more than one course, course reserves will purchase a second copy of the item.

Making Course Material Affordable

With education costs on the rise, considering textbook affordability is an opportunity for us to support our students. For ideas on how to increase textbook affordability for your students, please visit the library's Affordable Textbooks page.

Copyright Law and Course Reserves

We adhere to the UC Copyright Guidelines for Fair Use. Any materials submitted that are not in compliance will not be placed on reserve and will be returned to the instructor. Due to copyright restrictions, the Course Reserves Team cannot put items owned by other institutions on reserve at our library.