Reserves

• Search Reserves
• Place Item(s) on Reserve (online form)
• Information on Reserves – for Instructors
• Information on Reserves – FAQ for Students
• Reserves Loaning Policy

General Copyright Statement

The University of Southern Mississippi Libraries provide access to print and electronic resources for scholarly research, instruction, and non-profit educational use. The University Libraries observe all applicable copyright law in providing resources to its users and expects that these users will abide by the copyright terms and conditions of each resource. The University Libraries do not condone unauthorized use of copyrighted materials such as excessive photocopying of print material or downloading, uploading or sharing of music or video files from the libraries’ computers.

Reserves and Fair Use Copyright Guidelines

The purpose of the course reserve system is to facilitate access to a resource needed for instructional use by students. When providing either paper or electronic reserves, the University Libraries observe the Fair Use provisions of the United States Copyright Act of 1976. Section 107 of the Copyright Act addresses the fair use of materials and allows that limited copying and reproduction of copyrighted resources for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use, the factors to be considered include:

• the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
• the nature of the copyrighted work;
• the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
• the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

The University Libraries have developed the following specific interpretation of fair use which will be applied to submissions for class reserves. The libraries will:

• process no more than one copied article from a given journal issue per class;
• process no more than one copied chapter from a given book (not to exceed 10% of the whole book) per class;
• remove all copied reserve materials after one semester and will not place the same material on reserve two semesters in a row;
• reproduce only materials owned by University Libraries or by the instructor.

Outside of these conditions, the University Libraries will pursue the necessary permissions to reproduce requested materials and will place them on reserve as a service to faculty. The University Libraries will endeavor to pay all necessary royalties and fees to provide this service to faculty, however, some cost sharing may be required due to budget limitations. If permission to copy is denied, the University Libraries will not post the materials. Permissions are obtained through the nonprofit Copyright Clearance Center. For more information on CCC and copyright, see http://www.copyright.com/.

Information on Reserves – for Instructors

• Bring material to be placed on reserve to the Reserve Desk in the appropriate library and complete the reserve form, or submit an online Reserve Request Form at http://www.lib.usm.edu/legacy/reserves2.php http://www.lib.usm.edu/legacy/reserves2.php. The University Libraries are not responsible for damage to, or loss of, personal copies placed on reserve.

• Include complete and accurate citation information for each item on the first page of a photocopy.
• Include the original copyright statement. This information is usually found on the back of the title page. For journal articles, if the copyright statement is not found on the first page of the article itself, look on the inside front cover of the journal.
• Photocopies must be one-sided, 8½ x 11 inch paper, be clear and legible with half-inch margins, and have no black margins or shadows.
• Pages must be free of any tape or attached pieces of paper.
• Include only one citation per document.
• Individual readings must be from one source. If a course reading is comprised of materials from more than one source, divide it into separate readings before submitting it to reserves (entire course packs are not eligible).
• Student papers must be accompanied by a permission letter authorizing the paper to be placed on reserve or the student names must be redacted.

Processing time for reserve materials is generally within two working days, except during the first three weeks of the semester when processing may take three working days.

Loan Periods

For print or media reserves, instructors may assign a loan period of:

• 3 hours
• Overnight
• 3 days
• 7 days

Electronic reserves are available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

Links to Full-text Articles

E-reserves are generally made available in PDF format. However, reserves staff utilize links to full-text online versions available in the libraries’ collections whenever possible. This eliminates any potential accessibility and copyright issues. Please indicate such online availability if it is known to exist.

Information on Reserves – FAQ for Students

If you have any questions about reserves, please contact the Circulation Desk at Cook Library (601.266.4250) or Gulf Coast Library (228.865.4540).