Reserve Placement Policy

The purpose of this reserve placement policy is to provide guidelines for assuring UWest faculty and library patrons in compliance with the Section 107 of copyright law of the United States. This federal law governs the making of photocopies and other electronic types of learning resources for university community.

A set of “fair use” principles is applied for legally reproducing copyrighted material without the permission or payment where the use is reasonable and not unduly harmful to the copyright owner. The library reserve service will not accept the placement request for a photocopy or reproduced material that exceeds the “fair use” clause for the purpose of private study, scholarship or research.

I. Guidelines to Reserve Materials

A. Original books, videos, CDs, DVDs and any single copy of learning material in current library collection or from personal property that is legally purchased original item can be placed on reserve upon faculty request.

B. When photocopy of printed material is placed, the faculty requesting the placement should furnish the material provided the material falls within the following criteria:

  • One chapter, or no more than 10% from a book ;
  • One article per issue of a journal or newspaper ;
  • Government publication ;
  • Any item for which the faculty requesting the placement owns the copyright, or owns the advanced permission from the copyrighted owner. The proof of copyright ownership or permission document should accompany the material. The first page of the item should include the bibliographic citation when appropriate.

C. In the end of each academic session, all copyrighted material placed in library reserve will be disbanded for future usage. Books, videos, CDs, DVDs originally in library collection will resume their circulative status; photocopies of printed material will return to the faculty requesting the placement; electronic files will be destroyed unless the permission has been obtained in advance to retain the digitized version of the material in library collection.

II. Guidelines to Electronic Reserve

A. Electronic reserve access should be restricted to current faculty and students authorized through the library’s electronic reserve system. The title and author of these electronic reserve material will be not searchable online, but accessed only by course name or instructor’s name.

B. When the request for an electronic copy of a printed material is placed, the faculty requesting the placement should furnish the electronic file provided the material falls within the following criteria:

  • One chapter, or no more than 10%, from a book ;
  • One article per issue of a journal or newspaper ;
  • Government publication ;
  • Any item for which the faculty requesting the placement owns the copyright, or owns the advanced permission from the copyrighted owner. The proof of copyright ownership or permission document should accompany the material; Course material produced or owned by the faculty requesting the placement, including syllabi, lecture note, and exams. The first page of the item should include the bibliographic citation when appropriate.

C. Copyright permission must be obtained

  • When an article is needed for more than one semester ;
  • When multiple articles from the same journal are needed ;
  • When one chapter of a book is needed for more than one semester.