1. The University of Alabama Libraries
2. Course Reserves
3. Course Reserves-Faculty Instructions

Course Reserves for Instructors

Guidelines

Most course reserves will be offered in electronic format within a course’s Blackboard shell; physical course reserves will be offered in only a limited number of cases. The Libraries will assist the instructor in gathering links or electronic copies of items selected for reserve and adding them to the course shell.

• Instructors are responsible for copyright compliance for materials that are placed in Blackboard. For example, scanned materials provided by the Libraries should be shared only with students in the course and only via the Blackboard platform.
• Reserve lists and materials must be submitted two weeks prior to the beginning of the semester for priority consideration.
• Syllabi must be submitted with the request for Reserve materials. Staff are not responsible for deciding what should be posted.
• Forms must be included and filled out completely. Please indicate if materials are not needed until later in the semester.
• Processing is done on a first-come, first-serve basis. Processing time depends on the number of items, quality of material and time of semester.
• There are no permanent or standing reserves. Lists must be submitted every semester.
• Completed forms may be emailed as a PDF or word attachment, submitted through campus mail, or brought to the appropriate library’s Circulation Desk.
• We will make every effort to identify electronic versions of your requested reserve items. Some items may simply not be available in electronic form.  For our reserve staff to add items to your Blackboard shell, you must add the staff member to your course as a Course Builder. Course Builders do not have access to grades or other private student information.  Once the reserves have been loaded, you can remove the Course Builder. Adding a user to Blackboard Learn

Library Materials

Books

We will attempt to locate ebook versions of any books needed for your reserves.  Please specify if only limited chapters are needed.  Note that ebooks must be available on platforms supported by the Libraries; for example, we are not able to purchase Kindle books.  If we are not able to find an ebook version, we will place a physical copy of the book on reserve.

Music Scores

Here are some online resources for digitized music scores:

IMSLP (online repository of public domain scores)

https://imslp.org/wiki/Main_Page

Music Online: Classical Scores Library (UA database)

http://libdata.lib.ua.edu/login?url=https://search.alexanderstreet.com/shmu

Articles and Ebook Chapters

Links to electronic copies of articles and chapters of ebooks offered in our collections and through our databases can easily be added to your Blackboard shell.  Scanned images of items in this category for which there is not an electronic version may also be added to your Blackboard shell.

[Adding a Link to Blackboard Learn

[Adding a File to Blackboard Learn

Streaming Video

Instructions on embedding streaming video in your Blackboard shell are available in our Guide to Streaming Video @ The University of Alabama.  Go to the UA Faculty tab and look for the “Embed Videos in Blackboard” box in the upper left part of the screen.

Personal Copies of Books, Etc.

We will attempt to identify an electronic copy of your item. If we are unable to do so, we will place your personal copy on reserve.

Procedure

You are encourage to load materials into your own Blackboard shell.  However, if you would like assistance, please follow these steps.

• Step 1:Submit the Blackboard Request Form and your syllabus to the appropriate person listed below.  An email with attachments is the preferred method, but you may also submit through campus mail or drop them off at the appropriate circulation desk.
• Step 2: You will receive an email acknowledgment with a request to add the staff member as a Course Builder to your Blackboard shell.  Please reply when the Course Builder has been added.
• Step 3: You will be informed when the requested materials have been added or if any problems are encountered.  You may be invited to work with your subject liaison to identify alternative items, if needed.
• Step 4: Once everything is loaded, you are free to remove the Course Builder from your course shell.

Reserve Contacts