Research Guides: Course Reserves and Textbooks: Home

Course Reserves

For Students
For Faculty

Materials your instructor placed on reserve for your course are located in the left column. Simply select your course code!

Electronic Reserves	Physical Reserves	Textbook Collection
Online reserves will require a password to access. Your faculty member or the Library Service Desk can supply this. Give us a call at 925-631-4229, or Ask a Librarian.	Physical reserves can be loaned out for a limited time at the Library Service Desk.	Course textbooks are available for a 2-hour loan at the Library Service Desk. For semester-long rentals or purchase, visit the campus bookstore. Search on the library's website for a specific textbook or course code. Don't see the book you need? We encourage you to submit a purchase request.

Electronic Reserves

Physical Reserves

Textbook Collection

Online reserves will require a password to access. Your faculty member or the Library Service Desk can supply this. Give us a call at 925-631-4229, or Ask a Librarian.

Physical reserves can be loaned out for a limited time at the Library Service Desk.

Course textbooks are available for a 2-hour loan at the Library Service Desk. For semester-long rentals or purchase, visit the campus bookstore.

Search on the library's website for a specific textbook or course code.

Don't see the book you need? We encourage you to submit a purchase request.

Questions? Ask a Librarian, or call the Library Service Desk at 925-631-4229 during open hours.

Saint Mary's Library encourages faculty to submit a Course Reserve Request for electronic and physical reserves.

Electronic Reserves	Physical Reserves	Textbook Collection
Reserve articles, audio, scanned book excerpts, streaming media, and other electronic material to be uploaded to your course Moodle page. Students will need a password to access, which I will supply to you once your request(s) are ready. It is the instructor's job to verify requests meet copyright clearance and fair use requirements. We ask that you keep in mind these copyright guidelines.	Reserve books, DVDs, CDs, and other physical material to be checked out for a limited time at the Service Desk. These may be from the library's collection or the instructor's personal copy.	The Library supplies affordable textbooks to students for a 2-hour loan at the Service Desk. If you foresee yourself using the same text to teach a course for multiple semesters, then submitting a Purchase Request may be a more efficient option.

Electronic Reserves

Physical Reserves

Textbook Collection

Reserve articles, audio, scanned book excerpts, streaming media, and other electronic material to be uploaded to your course Moodle page.

Students will need a password to access, which I will supply to you once your request(s) are ready.

It is the instructor's job to verify requests meet copyright clearance and fair use requirements. We ask that you keep in mind these copyright guidelines.

Reserve books, DVDs, CDs, and other physical material to be checked out for a limited time at the Service Desk.

These may be from the library's collection or the instructor's personal copy.

The Library supplies affordable textbooks to students for a 2-hour loan at the Service Desk.

If you foresee yourself using the same text to teach a course for multiple semesters, then submitting a Purchase Request may be a more efficient option.

Questions? Please contact the course reserves manager, Daisy, at drg12@stmarys-ca.edu or call 925-631-4181. Availability is Sunday-Thursday afternoons/evenings.

If an immediate response is needed, call the Library Service Desk at 925-631-4229 during open hours.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Does the faculty member provide the library with a copy of the textbook for course reserves?

A: The library will happily place on reserve any books, videos, CDs, or other physical material from a faculty member's personal collection. However, faculty are not required to provide their own copy. You can reserve a text from the library's current collection, or request the library purchase a text. If you'd like an excerpt of a text uploaded for an e-reserve, this can either be scanned from a book in the library's current collection or your own personal collection, which you'd bring to the library service desk upon completing the reserve request form.

Q: Should my course reserve material be made part of the textbook collection instead?

A: If you offer a course regularly and plan on using the same text each term, then the textbook collection would be a more efficient option for you. These permanently become part of the library's collection made available at the service desk for students on 2-hour loans, so these would not be personal copies. Request an addition to the textbook collection here. Requests do not have to be currently part of the library's collection, so if your text fits the parameters of our collection development policy, we will purchase it as soon as possible.

Q: How can I save my students money on textbooks?

A: There are a few options to choose from here: You may consider allowing students to use a previous edition, which - although likely having slightly differing page numbers and content - will most likely be less expensive.

Ask your subject librarian if the library can buy an e-book version of your course text that all your students can use. Along that line, if you foresee yourself using the same textbook in teaching a course for multiple semesters, then request your subject librarian purchase it for the textbook collection, where students may loan it out for 2-hour periods.

Consider Open Educational Resources: this consists of using e-books, articles, primary sources, or case studies available through the library rather than a commercial textbook. Your subject librarian should be able to assist in investigating options with you.

You may also recommend students to a financial aid counselor, HP staff, or SEAS coach who can hopefully assist in connecting them with textbook funding.