Reserves

The Reserves Desk serves to facilitate student access to supplemental course material, but not as an alternative to having students purchase texts required for a course.

Students, please see How to Use a Course Reserve for information about using reserves.

The Reserve Collection is located behind the Circulation Desk and is arranged by professors' last names. You can find out if an item is available in the Reserve Collection by clicking on the Reserves Desk tab within MaconCat, the library's online catalog, and searching by professor name, course number, or course name. Books and articles are the most common type of Reserve material but others formats, including audio tapes, CDs, and videos are also frequently used. All reserves must be used within the library. Books, articles, tapes, and CDs are loaned to students for 2 hours; DVDs and videos are loaned for their duration rounded up to the next whole hour. (A movie that is 2 hours and 30 minutes long will be checked out for 3 hours.)

The library follows copyright guidelines based on the U.S. Copyright Act. Instructors may request that materials be placed on Reserve for the period of one semester. No items can be placed on reserve for two consecutive semesters.

In accordance with Federal Copyright Regulations, the Fair Use Act and ALA Guidelines, the following is a summary of our copyright policy for Reserve materials excerpted from other works. We cannot make exceptions to this policy; therefore, we ask that you choose your materials carefully. Any material violating this policy will be returned and not placed on reserve.

All articles, essays or book chapters placed on reserve must be marked with their full bibliographic citation which must include:
   1. Title of chapter/article and title of source
   2. Author information for chapter and source
   3. Copyright information

The title of a reserve will appear in MaconCat exactly as it does on the article/chapter itself. Please specify if you would like it listed differently.

Items placed on reserve will be removed at the end of each semester. The library can store no items, electronic or otherwise.

The library can place on photocopy or electronic reserve:
    One chapter and/or 10% of a book, whichever is smaller
   *Note- if more than 1 chapter and/or 10% is needed, the book/work itself may be placed on traditional reserve
    An article from a periodical or newspaper
    One short essay, or short poem (for poetry, a complete poem if less than 250 words and on no more than two pages, or an excerpt of 250 words from a longer poem)
    For prose in general, a complete article, story or essay of less than 2,500 words or an excerpt of not more than 1,000 words (or 10% of the work)
    One chart, graph, diagram, drawing, cartoon, or picture from one book or periodical
    Not more than one short poem, article, story or essay may be copied from the same author during one class term

The library cannot place on reserve:
    Any copied or scanned items which create, replace or substitute for a book, anthology or compilation
    Any item not owned by you or McGraw-Page Library (including books/movies from ILL and rented movies)
    Any recorded television programs from for-profit entities without their permission
    Any text required for a course
    Any items which do not meet the criteria listed above

There is no limit to the number of items that may be placed on reserve, but we do ask for 48 hours notice in order to process the material and make it available to the public. For Electronic Reserves, please allow at least 72 hours.

Electronic Reserves

Electronic Reserves provide access to reserve material to any member of the Randolph-Macon Community. Materials can be located through the Reserves Desk tab within MaconCat, the library's on-line catalog. Please use your R-MC username (without the @rmc.edu), and your password to view e-reserves.

The information processed for Electronic Reserves is protected under the Copyright Laws of the United States (Title 17 U.S. Code) which govern photocopied material. As is the case with traditional reserves, the fair-use provisions do apply to Electronic Reserves, leaving responsibility with each individual user for any infringement or copyright violation.

Electronic Reserves Guidelines

Refer also to the general Reserves guidelines above. Material to be placed on Electronic Reserve may be submitted in either photocopied or original format. However, we do request that the following guidelines be followed for each request:

Photocopies should be single-sided on 8.5" x 11" paper, and should be clean with a minimum amount of blackened borders.

Due to the size of PDF files, the maximum length for any given article should be no more than 40 pages.

Contact Us

For more information on library policies contact Emily Bourne, Reserves, at 752-7302.

P. O. Box 5005; 305 Henry Street, Ashland VA, 23005-5505
Circulation Desk: (804) 752-7257

This page last updated by Jennie Callas on