Electronic Reserves - Earl Gregg Swem Library

Please note: Information Technology (IT) and Swem Library staff's experiences suggest that it is often best to provide students with hard copies of materials that they are expected to bring to class. This can be done through the centralized Copy Center (located in Swem Library) or by including articles and chapters as part of a course pack purchased through the W&M Bookstore.

Definition

Electronic reserves offer students an efficient way to obtain supplemental course materials. From any computer with Web access and appropriate viewing software, students can access these electronic course documents 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Electronic course documents include printed materials (scanned and converted to electronic format); links to full-text articles and books in databases such as JSTOR and InfoTrac OneFile; electronic word processing, spreadsheet, database, presentation, and other software files; links to Web sites; and audio and video files.

Methods

1. If you need a Blackboard page created for your course, please contact your Information Technolgy Liaison. Your IT liaison can also show you how to use Blackboard, including how to post documents.

2. Find full-text electronic articles available through the W&M libraries' online databases. Contact Swem Library's Reference Department at 757-221-3067 or sweref@wm.edu, or contact your department's Swem Llibrary Liaison. For more information about full-text electronic resources that have stable or "durable" URLs, please visit www.swem.wm.edu/services/faculty/durable.cfm.

3. For articles or book chapters that are not already available in full-text electronic form:

Scan using departmental copiers. Check to see if your department's copier has the printer/scanner option. There is no cost for the scanning. Individuals doing the scanning should monitor the size of the PDF files created to be sure they are under the 5MB mail quota. Training and support are provided by the college's Copy Center staff.
Scan using scanners in Morton or James Blair Faculty Digital Centers (FDC's). Faculty members who use scanners in the FDC's need to get the key code from their departmental liaisons and become familiar with the scanning software. Detailed instructions are available in each of the digital centers on how to produce PDF documents. Training and support are provided by Information Technology Liaisons and the Technology Support Center.
Scan using dedicated departmental scanners. Departments should contact their IT liaisons or IT Technology Support Center to review specifications before purchasing a scanner. Training and support are provided by Information Technology Liaisons and Technology Support Center.
Scan using public copiers or the Copy Center located in Swem Library. Swem Library's self-service copiers are networked and have scanning features enabled with no cost. Or, Copy Center staff can provide batch scanning on a per-page cost basis. Training and support provided by Copy Center staff.

More Information

For more information about scanning, please contact:

IT's Technology Support Center � 757-221-HELP � support@wm.edu

For tips on preparing materials to be scanne, please click here.

Electronic Reserves: Recommendations for Faculty

For more Information about library reserves