Guidelines for Reserve Materials
It is the policy of the SWOSU Libraries to follow the fair use provisions of the Copyright Law (contained in Title 17 of the U.S. Code). The Reserve Materials guidelines follow the requirements stated in Section 107 of the Copyright Law with respect to making copies for educational purposes.
Read the guidelines below for detailed information about Reserve materials in the SWOSU Libraries. If you have questions, contact the Circulation Services Coordinator at (580)774-3130.
Reserve Form
You can fill out the Reserve form online or download the form and email it to the library.
Original Materials
- Circulating materials owned by the library: At the request of faculty, the library will place on Reserve any circulating material in its collection. The item must be required reading. Due to copyright restrictions, the library's circulating materials can remain on Reserve for one semester only. If a faculty member plans to use the material(s) for the course on a continuing basis, a personal copy of the material should be provided for Reserve purposes or the department should request that an additional copy be purchased from the department's library allocation.
- Non-circulating materials owned by the library: Library materials that do not circulate, including reference books, do not need to be placed on Reserve, as they do not circulate.
- Materials not owned by the library: Those materials needed for instruction should be requested through the faculty member’s library representative for purchase from the department's library allocation.
- Original items belonging to faculty Items furnished by faculty will be placed on Reserve as personal copies.
How long may materials be kept on Reserve?
- Items protected under copyright, such as books, periodical issues, publisher’s reprints, etc.: All personal copies are returned to the instructor at the end of each semester unless a request is made to destroy or retain the item.
- Items created by the instructor for the course, including class notes, study guides, etc.: These materials may stay on Reserve indefinitely with written permission from the instructor.
Photocopies
The library will accept for Reserve each semester one copy of any article or book chapter that is in the library's collection or is the property of the instructor. If the photocopy itself is submitted, it will be assumed to be the property of the instructor. Submissions must include: 1) complete bibliographic information and 2) not have a copyright notice indicating that further copying is not permitted.
Within a course time period (usually one semester), the following photocopy limits apply based on Copyright Law for each course taught:
- Only 1 article per author
- Up to 3 articles from any particular journal title
- 9 items total (includes any combination of photocopied book chapters, articles, poems, graphs, etc.)
Additional guidelines for photocopied materials:
- Anthologies or other collections created by photocopy cannot be accepted for Reserve unless course pack permission has been obtained from the creator or copyright holder.
- Photocopied consumables, including workbook pages, answer sheets/keys, etc., cannot be accepted for Reserve unless permission has been obtained from the creator or copyright holder.
- In compliance with copyright law, a photocopy of the same item may not be placed on Reserve for more than one semester (or course term) without permission from the creator or copyright holder.
- For any article to be on Reserve for a second or subsequent semester, copyright law requires that permission must be obtained from the copyright holder. faculty members need to sign a form indicating that they affirm that all copies have been made in compliance with Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17 USC) and any permission has been procured from the author/publisher.
- Full-text articles accessible via the library's databases have different rules. In the event a full text article is available through dynamic linking in an online database, this linking can persist from semester to semester. See “Online Reserves” below for more information.
- The library may make additional photocopies for Reserve purposes if requested, but no more than five (5) copies total or 1 copy per every 10 students.
Online Reserves
Online copies of Reserve items are subject to the same guidelines as hard copy counterparts with the following additional requirements:
- Scanned photocopies that are protected by copyright will be password-protected by the library. This applies to all personal or library-owned materials that are placed on online Reserves.
- Materials available online through library subscriptions and licensing agreements may be linked directly to the Reserve record in the online catalog. Direct links to full text articles in online databases do not have to be removed at the end of each semester.
- Faculty-generated materials such as class notes, test reviews, etc. may be password protected by request.
Loan Periods
- 2 Hour (in-library use only)
- 2 Day (circulates outside the library)
- Under special circumstances, special loan periods may be granted.
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