Course Reserves

"Reserves" refers to any print and media materials that instructors request to be set aside for student use throughout the duration of a course.

Print and media reserve items are searchable using IUCAT Course Reserves. Search using Instructor Name, Course Number, or Course Name. Please review our Course Reserves Circulation Policies.

Instructors: Request a Print or Media Item Be Placed on Reserve

Reserve Locations

Alternatives to Placing Items On Reserve

Open Educational Resources

By selecting library-provided articles and no-cost open educational resources (OERs) like open textbooks and/or eTexts, many instructors find it easier than imagined to teach a course while incurring little to no additional material costs for students. The Libraries are often able to help find open resources that provide students with the relevant content they need. Open textbooks can also be delivered through the IU eTexts initiative via Unizin Engage. When searching for OERs in the IU eTexts catalog, select the Open Textbook Library from the Publisher drop-down menu.

IU Librarians maintain extensive guides demonstrating how to find and integrate free and open access materials, including textbooks, into your courses:

For assistance with using open educational resources, contact campus OER librarians.

Alternatives to Print Textbooks

Some course materials may already be digitized and available through IU Libraries' digitized collections in HathiTrust or available as an e-book through IUCAT. Licensing restrictions may limit simultaneous access to these materials.

Consider alternatives to traditional textbooks, such as clinical and practitioner e-books intended for professional readers that are generally more available in electronic format.

If the Libraries do not already own an e-book version of your course material, request a purchase. We may not be able to purchase the materials due to availability, licensing restrictions, costs, etc. but we will do our best.

Link Directly to Online Articles

Link to resources in our many online databases and research guides. You can easily link these resources to your course in Canvas.

Audio/Visual Materials

You can submit an Online Streaming Request for a course you are teaching.

Limited Digitization

Instructors can use Request Article Delivery to make a Print Reserves Request. A digital copy of a print article, or one to two chapters of book, dependent upon the book’s length, can be digitized for teaching. Digitization of entire volumes may be possible, but will be limited to public domain works or out-of-print books that are not available commercially and cannot be acquired by IU Libraries in digital form.

  • Due to increased demand, it may take up to two weeks to fulfill requests; requests for instructional needs will receive priority.

If you'd like to discuss other possible options, please request a consultation with a librarian subject specialist.