General Information
The Course Reserves collection/service supports the academic mission of Diablo Valley College by providing access to required materials for specific classes.
Materials are placed in Course Reserves at the request of instructors or by library staff to ensure required materials for classes are available to all students.
Course reserves may be provided in a limited capacity as an online service to faculty and students (typically one or two chapters of a textbook). For more information please view our Services for Students: Textbooks page.
What can be placed on Course Reserves?
Items that can be placed on Course Reserves include:
Books: Library-owned and instructor-owned books may be placed on Course Reserves. Links to eBooks are available through DVC library. Loose leaf and spiral binding books are not recommended due to heavy use.
Articles: Single copies of articles that fall within Fair Use. Digital materials and links to articles are available through DVC library’s databases.
Instructor-owned materials: Personal copies of books and media supplied by the faculty member that satisfy copyright guidelines. Instructors’ materials will be affixed with minimum identification and circulation labels, and security strips. While efforts will be made to safeguard materials, the library is not responsible for any damage to or loss of personal items placed on Course Reserves.
Course packs: Readings assembled by instructors to supplement college courses, typically including an assortment of articles or sections of longer books.
What cannot be placed on Course Reserves?
Archival materials
Reference books
Special Collection books
Materials from serials/periodicals collection
Media & copies
Materials belonging to other libraries
Materials intended for individual users (Consumable workbooks, exercise sheets, test booklets, etc.)
Materials printed from the internet or digitized works without appropriate copyright releases
How are textbook purchase requests made?
The Library will attempt to acquire an e-version of all course reading titles if one is available. However, please be aware that a significant portion of textbook publishers do not provide e-options for libraries to acquire. If an e-version is not available for the library to obtain, the print version will be purchased.
Purchase requests for a textbook to be placed on course reserve can be requested by filling out the following form: Request a Textbook for DVC Library Reserves
The Library has limited funding for buying textbooks so not all requests can be fulfilled.
Instructors should consider loaning a personal copy of the textbook to the Library, if possible.
Acquiring and processing requests may take up to 2-4 weeks; however, every effort will be made to expedite all reserve requests.
Requesters will be contacted as soon as possible about the status of the requested item if the request has been approved and when the materials have arrived.
The Library accepts purchase requests any time during the semester; however, it is best to request materials in advance if they are needed at a specific time.
The library reserves the right to limit the number of copies purchased based on the cost and the number of sections using the materials.
How are materials removed from Course Reserves?
Removing items from Reserves begins immediately after the end of the semester.
Reserves staff will keep or remove items from Reserves based on the information provided by the DVC Book Center and instructors.
Library-owned materials might be moved to another location in the library or discarded if no longer needed.
It is the responsibility of the instructor to notify the reserves staff before the end of the current semester if items must remain on Reserves for the succeeding semester.
Instructors-owned materials removed from Reserves will not be sent to instructors. If you need to claim materials, please contact Ricardo Ramirez at rramirez-castaneda@dvc.edu, or Tatiana Pak at tpak@dvc.edu
Instructor-owned materials removed from Reserves will be in storage for three semesters. After that, it will be at the library’s discretion to either dispose of them or move them to another location.
What are the Course Reserves check out rules?
Only registered DVC students can use the Reserves Collection.
Currently there is no limit to checkout requests for students, keeping in mind copyright restrictions for each item (approximately 1-2 chapters).
Turnaround time for completing scan requests is 2 business days. Requests are not filled on weekends, non-instructional days, nor holidays.
How are Fair Use and Copyright applied to Course Reserves?
Instructors are responsible for determining if their use of copyrighted material falls within Fair Use or if they need to obtain permission to use the material. By submitting a reserve request, instructors accept responsibility for copyright compliance.
The library may refuse materials for reserve, or remove materials already on reserve, for legal or administrative concerns. To find more information on the different types of copyright for materials, please click on the following links:
Journal Articles, Prose, Poetry
To see the entire guide and learn more, click here: