Faculty Reserves

Library-owned books and instructor-owned books, tests, and papers are placed on Reserves through the Access Services Department of the Axe Library. All reserve materials, once processed, are available for search through the online catalog.

ID for checking out reserve items

All PSU students, faculty, and staff MUST present their PSU Photo ID at the time of each checkout. Other users must present a valid library checkout card. 

For Faculty: How to place material on reserve

Items you wish to place on reserve (Library-owned books, personal copies, test, photocopies, etc.) should be brought to the Circulation Desk. Fill out a copy of the Reserve Material Form (PDF) and bring it with the material to be placed on reserve.

The Copyright Compliance Form needs to be completed and brought to the desk for each copyrighted and photocopied title (article). Due to copyright and processing procedures, we hope to be able to process materials within 1-3 working days. If information is incomplete, the circulation supervisor will contact you for proper information. Copyright forms need to be signed by the instructor, not the GA or secretary.

Realizing that both long and short reading assignments are usually photocopied by the students and read elsewhere, the following checkout times are recommended:

• 2H = 2 Hours - Use for short articles quickly read or photocopied. Items checked out after 10 p.m. are due back the following morning by 8:30 a.m.  
• 1D = 1 Day - Use for books or longer articles in larger classes. Items checked out at 3 p.m. would be due at 3 p.m. the following day. 
• 3D = 3 Days - Use for multiple book chapters where a weekend time period is desirable. Books checked out on Friday will be due on Monday.  
• 1W = 1 Week - Use for extensive reading which may be limited use to entire class. Recommended for classes that meet only once a week. Commuter students can return books when class is scheduled and will not have to make an extra trip back during the week to return books.

How do I know what is on my reserve?

At the end of each semester we will send you a printout indicating total use of each item by circulation (number of checkouts), so that you can see firsthand which items were actually used by your students over the course of a semester.

How to take material off reserve

Come by, call, or drop us a note. The "pink" withdrawal form helps us uniformly track what is being taken off, and material can be taken off mid-semester. Items which fall into copyright compliance categories will be returned to you automatically after the semester has ended if you do not take them off. We will send them back to you through campus mail.

Copyright Compliance Guidelines

Effective Summer 1995, photocopied material for faculty reserve will be processed only if accompanied by a signed Copyright Compliance Form. This form must be printed out, read, and signed by the instructor before processing of any articles that have been submitted for the instructor's Library reserve.

Guidelines of the Library, drawn from the 1976 Copyright Law, for placing photocopied materials on reserve are as follows:

• An instructor may place ONE COPY of an article or chapter on reserve; multiple copies, including using the same article for more than one class, is not permitted. 
• Photocopied articles may be placed on reserve for ONE SEMESTER ONLY. These articles will be automatically returned to you at the end of the semester.
• If articles are needed for additional semesters, copyright permission is necessary from the publisher.
• This copyright compliance form is required for all articles placed on reserve at the Axe Library. Copies of perpetual permission and/or continued use permission from the publishers for items beyond the first semester may be required by the Library.
• The Library staff may refuse to place a copy on reserve if in their judgment the copy does not meet the criteria established by copyright law, or if supporting certification of copyright compliance is incomplete.

"Fair Use" is outlined below. For more information on "Fair Use" guidelines, see the Office of Academic Affairs Memorandum 84-10 or call the Library. The Library reserves the right to request proof of copyright clearance.

• Reserve copies are made for non-commercial, non-profit, educational purposes.
• Reserve copies must meet the standards of brevity and spontaneity.
• The copyrighted work must not be a consumable work (example: printed workbook).
• The reproduction must not be likely to have a significant adverse effect upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
• A notice of copyright appears on each copy.

Philosophical considerations

To use, or not to use: If the item on reserve is valuable or unique, you should seriously consider photocopying it for preservation and not place the original on reserve. Reserve items get used, and (unfortunately) abused, and (yes), sometimes ripped off.

Reserve is the place for RAPID access and checkout.  From time to time we will make a notation for you which items have or have not been used over a period of time. We will therefore request your assistance in regularly removing items which you will no longer be using. If an item has zero checkouts in three years it will automatically be removed from reserves and returned to the faculty member or the Axe shelves.

Our goal is to make (and keep) your material 
accessible to ALL your students.