Document Delivery Services of the UT Libraries

 Digital Production Services

Electronic Reserves

The primary purpose of the Libraries' reserve service is to provide the teaching faculty with the ability to expand the classroom learning experience by using non-textbook materials (articles, study guides, reference books, WebPages, etc.). The loan period of reserve items is determined by the instructor. Some materials circulate for a short period of time so that many students will have a chance to use them.

The Libraries' Reserve Service has expanded to include online reserve items, which are available 24-hours a day, via computer, through the Libraries' catalog. After a year of planning and design in 2000 and a handful of pilot test courses in Fall 2001, we went into full online production in Spring 2001 using the Horizon library system. Access to the reserve records in the web catalog was through a make-shift search table. In Fall 2003 the Library converted to Aleph, and the online reserves were more integrated into the regular web catalog.

Each semester over 500 instructors place material on reserve. Over 4000 online links to scans are maintained at a time.

Other universities, such as the University of Arkansas, require an additional course password to log in and view electronic reserves: http://libinfo.uark.edu/circulation/reservesaccess.asp.