Information for Faculty on how to add licensed electronic resources to their Course Page
The e-Reserves workflow is divided into 2 distinct steps, which are described in further detail below.
- Work with librarians directly to have them add, edit, or delete content in a course e-Reserve page.
- Before every semester, ensure that your AD knows to request activation of the e-Reserve page and Brightspace link for the course section(s) you are teaching.
What are E-Reserves?
E-reserves are a great way to utilize the library’s digital resources in online classes. Baruch Newman librarians can assist with locating, uploading, and ensuring copyright compliance of readings and videos, and other materials. They will set up a course E-Reserve page to host these materials, which students can easily access from their Brightspace course sites.
If the library doesn’t have a text or film that is needed for a course, they will make requests for permissions and obtain licenses whenever possible. Faculty can also supply them with materials directly, by sending them a PDF of an essay or a scanned excerpt of a book.
E-Reserve pages from past semesters can be reactivated when the course is offered again, saving considerable prep time. In courses that run multiple sections, a single E-Reserve page can be used for all sections if desired.
In order to ensure copyright compliance, E-Reserve pages are only accessible to students when classes are in session. However, SPS faculty can request materials well ahead of the semester, and librarians (who know that we work on an earlier timeline) can arrange to grant instructors advance access to their E-Reserve pages.
Why use an e-reserve page vs direct uploads/links in Brightspace?
| Permissions | Upload or link in Brightspace | Place on E-Reserve page |
| Materials that you may freely distribute to students | ✔ | ✔ |
| Materials generally licensed by the university or school for all its students | ✔ | ✔ |
| Materials not generally licensed by the university/school and for which we have to negotiate a restricted license | ✖ | ✔ |
For materials without restricted licenses, professors can choose to upload these in their Brightspace site and/or on the E-Reserve page, with the following pros and cons.
Upload/Link in Brightspace:
- Pro: can be placed in specific modules, so students will have direct access when reviewing weekly materials.
- Con: must regularly check that links and licenses are up to date.
E-Reserve Page:
- Pro: Librarians will ensure correct links and copyright compliance.
- Pro: Librarians ensure electronic materials are accessible.
- Pro: Students can navigate to all materials in one site.
- Con: Students must look outside of the weekly module to click on the E-Reserve link and then locate the target material on the E-Reserve page.
Accessing E-Reserves from Brightspace
A menu link to E-Reserves is present in all SPS Brightspace course sites. Students navigate to the course E-Reserve page by clicking the navbar Library link and choosing E-Reserves from the dropdown menu.
How does this link work?
- Before every semester, ADs or program staff indicate in our internal course prep system that the E-Reserve page for a course should be activated.
- Librarians activate the E-Reserve page and connect it to the corresponding Brightspace course(s) for the semester. This is how the system knows which page to open when the Library E-Reserves link is clicked inside a course.
- In the Brightspace course site, users click on the Library E-Reserves link to access the course E-Reserve page directly. If the library asks for a log in, please use the same CUNY login used for Brightspace.
If no E-Reserve page is activated for a course, users will be redirected to the library’s Research page.
Reminder: E-Reserve Page Content vs Brightspace link activation
Please recall that the e-Reserves workflow involves 2 distinct steps:
- Contact librarians directly to add, edit, or delete content in a course e-Reserve page.
- Before every semester, ensure that your AD knows to request activation of the e-Reserve page and Brightspace link for the course section(s) you are teaching.
E-reserve requests and contacts
To submit a request, use the Newman Library Reserve Request form, or email reserve@baruch.cuny.edu
If you have questions or issues, please contact Joe Hartnett, SPS Liaison, joseph.hartnett@baruch.cuny.edu
Was this helpful?
0 / 0
