Electronic Reserves Policies (ERes)
About | Self-Serve Option | Full Service Option | Information Needed | Copyright
About Electronic Reserve Services
As a service to the students and faculty of Fairfield University, the library offers electronic reserve services using ERes at http://ERes.fairfield.edu. Faculty may use the ERes electronic reserves system to place limited portions of library-owned materials and personal copies online for consultation by students enrolled in their courses, 24 hours a day. Items eligible for electronic reserve status include book chapters, articles, images, links to online resources, and faculty-generated documents such as course syllabi, lecture notes, websites, PowerPoint presentations, Excel spreadsheets, and text documents. For streaming media, please contact the Media Center (ext. 2725). It is possible to link to the files on the Media Center's secured server via your ERes course page. ERes and courseware systems such as Blackboard or Mentor need not be mutually exclusive options; they are complementary. Please note that electronic reserves are not a substitute for textbooks or course packs, and should constitute only a percentage of assigned course readings. Therefore the scanning of whole works such as entire books (print or electronic) or entire journals will not be accepted. ERes files and links will be reviewed at the end of term and removed or archived according to the professor's wishes and/or in compliance with US copyright law. If the above factors will not suit your purposes, traditional, in-library reserves may be an alternative.
Professors are welcome to create their own course pages, upload materials independently, and manage their sites with very little intervention from the ERes administrator. If you choose this option, please follow the recommended procedure:
- Contact Elise Bochinski at ebochinski@fairfield.edu or (203) 254-4000 ext. 2892 and ask for help in setting up an ERes account. Typically we ask that you meet for a half-hour tutorial at the library, during which you will be asked to read and sign the Electronic Reserves copyright policy form. Please feel free to view the "copyright" section of the form; you may print out and sign the copyright information form yourself and bring it to the session, or we can provide you with print copies to sign at the library. The in-person tutorial is required, and provides a quick guide to managing your account and uploading digital files.
- For each copyrighted document you upload, it is best if you provide a full bibliographic citation. You will also be asked to add an official copyright statement and the message "no further transmission of this material is permitted." If you need a copy of the statement, please feel free to request this at your session or contact the Reserves Department at any time.
- Each course page has its own password, and you will be asked to disseminate this password only to students enrolled in the designated course.
- After the semester is over, you are responsible for deleting or archiving any course pages containing copyrighted materials until permission has been gained to use the materials for additional semesters. Please also archive or delete pages created for courses that will not be taught again or in the near future.
- If you would like to know the location of scanner/copiers available to faculty, or if you need copyright clearance for any items, we recommend that you call Design and Digital Print Services (203) 254-4000 ext. 2432 for assistance.
- If you prefer to submit hard copies or book chapters to Reserve Services for scanning, we will scan in the material for you as part of the full-service ERes option.
Full service option
For those faculty who prefer to delegate their electronic reserve projects to library staff, the Reserves Department offers full ERes service. There are a few simple steps to begin:
- Contact Elise Bochinski at ebochinski@fairfield.edu or (203) 254-4000 ext. 2892 or Sylvia Hurlburt at shurlburt@fairfield.edu or (203) 254-4000 ext. 2234 and ask for help in setting up an ERes account.
- Carefully read the "copyright" section of this policy, print out and sign the copyright information form, and deliver your signed form to the Reserves Department in the Library. Alternatively, you can find these forms at the Reserves Desk in the library, sign and drop them off in person.
- After an account in is created, faculty may submit requests for electronic reserves by filling out an Electronic Reserve Document Processing Form available online or in the library. In addition, faculty may provide a complete list of ERes requests to the Reserve Department by either phone or e-mail. Contact Elise Bochinski at ebochinski@fairfield.edu or (203) 254-4000 ext. 2892 or Sylvia Hurlburt at shurlburt@fairfield.edu or (203) 254-4000 ext. 2234 to process your electronic reserves requests.
- If you need copyright clearance, call Design and Digital Print Services (203) 254-4000 ext.2432 for assistance.
Please Note: When submitting ERes requests, please include the following: professor's name, the semester during which the materials are to be accessible, the full course name, and the course number. For each item, please provide a full bibliographic citation.
- Faculty may send digital files to the Reserves department to be uploaded to Electronic Reserves, but please note, any copyright issues must be resolved before submission. You may also bring personal print copies or selected library materials to the Reserve Desk for processing. If you prefer not to bring library materials to the Reserve desk, our staff will retrieve them for you from the circulating stacks. However, please be aware that we will be able to process your materials more quickly if you bring all of the items to us yourself. Any photocopies should be on clean white 8 1/2 x 11 paper, single sides without staples, and be a first generation copy. PDF image quality can only be as good as the copy submitted. Any digital material may be sent as an e-mail attachment to shurlburt@fairfield.edu or to ebochinski@fairfield.edu.
Copyright
When dealing with materials where the instructor is not the copyright owner of the work, or where the materials neither are library-owned paper-based publications nor are print or electronic publications to which the library subscribes, materials may be placed on ERes only if:
(1) they are in the public domain (US government publication, or anything published before 1925),
(2) the copyright owner grants permission, (note that students own the copyright to their work) or
(3) the use is a "fair use" under the law.
Fair use is a legal doctrine found in section 107 of the 1976 US Copyright Act published in Title 17 of the US Code. It allows the public to make limited uses of copyrighted works without permission. It depends on the balancing of four factors including:
(1) the purpose of your use,
(2) the nature of the work you are using,
(3) the amount of the work you are using, and
(4) the effect of your use on the value of or market for the original work.
Because simple, clean, concise rules do not exist in the law of fair use, the Reserves Department uses the following standards to give fair use some practical application for electronic reserves.
(1) Purpose of the use: materials must serve only the needs of specified educational programs; they must be placed on electronic reserve only at the specific request of the instructor; access to materials will be limited by password to deter unauthorized access beyond students enrolled in the specific course for which the specific materials are needed; students should not be charged specifically to consult the works, and no person or unit at the university should benefit monetarily from the use of the material.
(2) Nature of the work: materials must be related directly to the educational objectives of a specific course; only those portions relevant to the objectives of the course may be placed on electronic reserve; and highly creative works, like novels, artwork and poetry, are not generally appropriate unless they are the main subject of academic study.
(3) Amount of the work: reproductions will generally be limited to brief works or brief excerpts from longer works, such as a book chapter, a single article from a journal, or unrelated news articles; the amount of the work placed on electronic reserve must be related directly to the educational objectives of the course.
(4) Effect of the use on the market for the original: repeat use of the same material by the same instructor for the same course will require permission from the copyright owner; the materials will include a citation to the original source of publication and a form of copyright notice; access to materials will be limited by password to deter unauthorized access beyond students enrolled in the specific course for which the specific materials are needed; materials must not be distributed beyond the students in the specific course; no material should be included unless it is produced from a lawfully obtained copy; materials on electronic reserve may not include any works that are available for students to purchase-whether as a book, coursepack, or other work-in the campus bookstore or other customary outlet.
If the use of the work you intend to place on ERes will not be a fair use according to these standards, and the material is not in the public domain, and is neither a library-owned paper-based publication nor a print or electronic publication licensed or subscribed to by the library, you will need to seek permission.
Design and Digital Print Services offers assistance to professors in gaining permission from copyright owners. Their extension is (203) 254-4000 ext. 2432.
Professors using electronic reserves are required to sign an initial statement pledging to honor the copyright standards put forth in this policy. Professors are also asked to indicate the copyright status of materials when filling out electronic reserve forms. The library relies on the honor system, and does not require documentation of permissions gained. A signature is required, however, securing the faculty member's pledge to honor copyright law.