How do I put materials on reserve?

You can have items placed on reserve by downloading the Course Reserves Request Form and emailing it to ndsu.library.reserves@ndsu.edu. It takes 2-3 business days to process reserve requests for NDSU or instructor owned materials and 5+ business days to order and process Tri-College requests. Requests submitted 2 weeks before or after the first day of classes will take longer to process.

Note: The guidelines below represent the Libraries' policies on course reserves. The Libraries' cannot offer legal counsel about copyright issues.

Course Reserves Request Form

Physical Reserve Guidelines

  • We accept a large variety of materials including books, journals, DVDs, class notes, etc.
  • Materials must be owned by NDSU Libraries, Tri-College Libraries, or the instructor to be placed on reserve. Items obtained through interlibrary loan or photocopies without proof of original ownership cannot be placed on reserve.
  • Library reference and other non-circulating materials will not be placed on reserve. Since they do not leave the library they are available to your students on the shelf.
  • Materials will be removed from reserve at the end of each semester. Personal materials will be returned to the instructor via campus mail. Materials may be kept at the library if they are going to be used within one semester. Example: an item placed on reserve for Spring semester won't be used over the summer, but will be used again for the Fall semester.
  • We will not place a photocopy of a book chapter or an article from a journal on physical reserve. We can place it on electronic reserve or we can put the entire work on physical reserve.

Electronic Reserve (eReserve) Guidelines

Acceptable Materials

  • Book chapters (no more than 10% of the total work)
  • Journal articles (up to 2 articles per journal issue that are not available through our online databases)
  • A poem, short story, essay, or play
  • Materials in the public domain (including government documents)
  • Instructor created study guides, exercises and tests
  • Student work with signed release

Unacceptable Materials

  • Published course packs sold by the bookstore
  • Consumable educational materials such as workbooks, standardized tests, or exercises
  • Videos, DVDs, or other media items (they can only be placed on physical reserve)

General Guidelines

  • The quality of the photocopy you submit determines the quality of the electronic version.
  • Instructors are responsible for making the initial good faith determination of fair use and acknowledging copyright compliance when making requests to place items on reserve.
  • Instructors are responsible for obtaining copyright permissions if necessary and paying copyright permission fees as required. Proof of copyright permissions are required if your materials exceed fair use guidelines, however, the material may be placed on reserve while permissions are being sought. See the Copyright and Fair Use tutorial for more information.
  • We reserve the right to review and remove outdated or non-compliant eReserve materials.

Questions? Contact ndsu.library.reserves@ndsu.edu or call 701-231-8395.