FAQ's

What is Course Reserves?

Through our course reserves service, instructors can make course materials available to students online with the web application ReservesDirect.

We provide digitized versions of print materials and other formats, and place them online in instructors' individual course reserves. We also support faculty by placing physical items (books and other media) at the Music & Media, Reserves Library service desk located on the 4th floor of the Woodruff Library.

What is Reserves Direct?

Reserves Direct is open-source software, developed at the Emory Libraries to manage electronic and physical library materials reserved for university courses.

Why would I reserve course materials?

To provide your students with required course readings and/or to give your students the convenience of online materials.

What course materials can I reserve?

Articles and book chapters can be placed online along with books, bound volumes of periodicals, and other materials owned by the library or by you. You can also upload files such as syllabi, lecture slides, and assignments to ReservesDirect.

Can I reserve materials at other Emory libraries?

Yes. You can send Woodruff materials to other Emory libraries or bring other Emory libraries’ materials to Woodruff, although CDs and DVDs usually stay in the Music & Media library near the audiovisual equipment. Also, the Chemistry, Music & Media, Oxford, Business, Health, Law, and Theology libraries offer separate reserves services, though all Emory libraries use ReservesDirect.

How do I reserve course materials?

Use ReservesDirect to reserve materials you or other instructors have previously reserved; to upload files; to link to websites, articles, and eBooks. You can also search for an item in the EUCLID catalog and click the “Request” button, or you can fill out a Reserve Request form online or at the 4th-floor Circulation Desk in the Music & Media Library.

Can my teaching assistant manage my course reserves?

Yes. Add your assistant as a “proxy” in ReservesDirect by going to the Manage Users tab. If the student is a first-time proxy, please notify Course Reserves (reserves@emory.edu or 404.727.1777) so we can update the student's User Profile.

Will Course Reserves digitize material for me?

Yes, as long as the material is compliant with copyright law. You can ask us to digitize an item by searching for it in discoverE or in EUCLID and by filling out a Reserve Request form.

How long will my Course Reserve Request take?

Course Reserve requests are normally filled within 1-4 working days during the semester, 5-10 working days at the start of the semester, and up to 14 days whenever the requested items are checked out.

What’s all this about copyright?

Only part of a book, CD, or DVD published in the U.S. after 1923 or in Europe after 1909 can be put online for your class in ReservesDirect or Blackboard without permission. For books, this usually means 1-2 chapters. We can request permission from the copyright holder to put more than that online, and the library will pay the cost. For more information, see our Reserves & Copyright page.

Should I use ReservesDirect, Blackboard, or LearnLink?

That depends: LearnLink is best at creating student community, Blackboard is best at administering courses, and ReservesDirect is best at providing course materials. You can’t reserve a book in the library with Blackboard, and you can’t upload a journal article or book chapter into Learnlink. You might want to use all three; you can export ReservesDirect courses to both Blackboard and LearnLink / FirstClass. See this chart for a full breakdown of the features of all three programs.

I’m having / my students are having trouble with ReservesDirect.

You can always e-mail us at reserves@emory.edu, call us at 404.727.1777, or visit us at the Music & Media, Reserves Library service desk located on the 4th floor of the Woodruff Library. You can also use the quick troubleshooting guide directly below.

• Make sure you / they have an Emory NetID.
  Visit http://it.emory.edu/ or call 404.727.1777.

• Make sure you / they have the correct “Default role” privileges.
  Click “Edit Profile” in ReservesDirect to check your own privileges.

• Make sure your course is active.
  ReservesDirect courses are usually available about 3 months before the semester starts. If you see the course title in ReservesDirect, click on it to make sure the “Class Status” has an “Active” status with the correct dates.

• Make sure your course materials are active.
  Click on the course title in ReservesDirect to check that each of your materials is “Active”; students cannot see “Inactive” materials.

• Make sure your students are enrolled in the course.
  Click on the course title in ReservesDirect and then on the “Enrollment: [view]” link or the “Enrollment” tab to make sure.