eReserve service FAQs

The eReserve scanning service allows teaching staff to place electronic copies of key student readings on Blackboard, under the University’s Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA) Licence. These electronic copies are known as eReserves.

The service was created as part of the Integrated eLearning Systems (IeLS) project. The service has now moved out of pilot stage, and is open to all academic departments of the University.

The aims of the service are threefold:

1. To provide a mechanism whereby academic staff can easily request scans of book chapters and journal articles for student reading.
2. To provide a platform where students can access the scanned resources from within Blackboard.
3. To ensure that the provision of scanned documents for academic purposes is done under the terms of the licence purchased from the CLA.

The eReserve Service is open to teaching staff in all academic departments of the University.

The service is only able to supply scans for courses that have an active 9-digit Blackboard course code, e.g. HIST12345 or MODLM1234.

The service only provides scans that are intended for the teaching and learning of students enrolled on individual modules – we do not provide scans for private or research purposes.

The University’s CLA Licence permits us to scan:

• One chapter or 5% (whichever is the greater) of books per course code
• One article or 5% (whichever is the greater) of journal issues per course code.

In addition:

• The Library must not already hold an electronic copy (eBook/eJournal) in its collection
• The Library should preferably own a physical copy
• The most recent edition that the Library holds must be used in most cases

The item must not be excluded by the CLA. There are some categories of work (e.g. printed music, maps, newspapers); some countries (e.g. Germany, The Netherlands, Italy); and some specific authors/publishers who have explicitly expressed their desire not to be included in the CLA's scanning agreement. These are listed on the CLA's website and will need to be checked by eReserves staff.

The eReserves team will carry out the relevant copyright checks and, if compliant, the requested item will be scanned and then uploaded to the relevant module area on Blackboard. The scan will be accessible via a menu item called “eReserves”, which will automatically be placed in the left-hand sidebar of the module area. Clicking on this link will direct students to folders containing the eReserves for all of the modules in which they are enrolled.

All new requests need to be submitted using the request form in the eReserves area of Blackboard. When you log in to Blackboard you will see a tab called "eReserves" at the top right of the screen (next to your "Home", "Courses" tabs). When you click on this tab you will see the eReserves Blackboard homepage, on which there is a link to “Submit and view my requests”. This will take you to the request form.

Email the Blackboard support team directly at tel-help@bristol.ac.uk or submit a service request to the ESU Technology Enhanced Learning Service Desk via TOPdesk, telling them that your eReserves tab is not visible. They will enable your access to the tab.

Demand for this service is very high. We recommend that you allow four weeks between the request date and the required-by date in order to give us the best chance of fulfilling your request on time. We will do all we can to have the scans ready for the date you have requested, but please be aware that the team uses the date that you specify as a way of prioritising only, and there may be circumstances beyond our control (e.g. books being on loan) that mean we are unable to meet this date. We will endeavour to keep you informed of any delays.

The eReserve team set a deadline by which requests must be submitted in order for scans to be available for the start of a teaching block. All teaching staff will be informed of this deadline via an email from the team.

While you can still submit requests after the deadline, it cannot be guaranteed that they will be processed in time for the start of teaching.

We encourage teaching staff to stage the “Required By” dates of their requests if possible.

The deadline for new requests for TB1 of the academic year 2013-14 is 2^nd August 2013.

No. All requests need to be submitted via the request form on Blackboard in order for them to be entered into our database, and therefore to appear on our annual copyright return.

No. Scans can only be made from hardcopy books.

Yes, provided that the eReserve team can obtain a copyright-cleared copy (CCC) of the item from the British Library.

Please be aware that CCC requests take longer to process than standard requests, due to the need to order the item from the British Library and await its arrival.

If you would like a copy of the requested item to be purchased for the Library’s collection, please submit an online purchase suggestion form, available here: http://www.bris.ac.uk/library/resources/recommend/purchase.html. Alternatively, you can email the relevant subject librarian for your discipline: http://bristol.ac.uk/library/support/subjects/.

We can only make scans from items that the Library holds in its collection or that have been purchased as copyright-cleared copies (CCCs) from the British Library.

Yes, but the total number of pages of the combined extracts must be less than or equal to 5% of the pages in the book. In addition, each extract must be requested separately.

The eReserves team will try to take the best image possible for your scan. Please be aware that some book bindings make this difficult and as a result some degree of distortion may occur. While every effort is taken to erase markings or annotations from requested texts, please note that scans may include markings or annotations that were not removable.

Images are taken in black and white, except in cases where a lack of colour would impair understanding of the content, e.g. multi-coloured charts.

Yes. This is permitted under the terms of the CLA licence. If you would like the endnotes for a chapter to be scanned, please make a note of this in the “Additional Information” area of the request form.

All of your requests will be listed in an area called "My Requests", accessible via a link at the top left of the request form in the eReserves area of Blackboard. Your requests will be organised by academic year and unit code.

Email the eReserve team at lib-ereserve@bristol.ac.uk, ideally including the ID Number/Digitisation Request Code of the scan to be cancelled. This will be a 17-character code containing the course code and the scan number, e.g. TEST12345SCAN1234. This number can be found on the confirmation email for the request, or by going to the "My requests" area and selecting the relevant academic year.

If a module is running again next year but will be taught by another member of staff, you will need to transfer ownership of your eReserves to that member of staff.

To do this, go to the eReserves tab on Blackboard and take the following steps:

1. Click on the link to “Submit and view my requests”
2. Select "My requests" in the top left hand corner
3. Select the relevant academic year from the dropdown menu (i.e. the academic year that the scan was used for)
4. A list of all your requests for that year will appear, grouped by course code
5. Select "Transfer ownership of this scan" for each scan that you would like to transfer
6. Enter the details of the person to whom you are transferring ownership of the scan and click “Apply changes”.

Yes. If you would like a requested scan to be made available for another course that you are teaching, you can submit a request to reuse the scan.This means that your original request can be duplicated, with no need to re-enter all of the bibliographic information.

To do this, go to the eReserves tab on Blackboard and take the following steps:

1. Click on the link to “Submit and view my requests”
2. Select "My requests" in the top left hand corner
3. Select the academic year from which you would like to reuse scans
4. A list of all your requests for that year will appear, grouped by course code
5. Select “Request for new course”  for each scan that is required for a different course code
6. Enter the new course code and a new “Date Required By”, then click Create.

Please be aware that this is not an automatic process. The eReserves team will need to check the request and amend certain details on the database in order to ensure that the request meets the requirements of the CLA licence. Reuse requests are therefore subject to the same four week lead time as new requests.

Scans will need to be renewed if they are required for the same course in the next academic year. There is no need to submit entirely new requests for scans. The eReserve team send out an email reminder to service users at the end of each teaching block, informing users of the deadline for renewal requests.

To renew scans, go to the eReserves tab on Blackboard and take the following steps:

1. Click on the link to “Submit and view my requests”
2. Select "My requests" in the top left hand corner
3. Select the academic year from which you would like to renew scans
4. A list of all your requests for that year will appear, grouped by course code
5. Select "Renew for new academic year" for each scan that is required for the same course in the next academic year, and click continue to confirm the renewal
6. A tick will be displayed next to each scan to indicate that the renewal request has been sent.

The eReserves team will then re-check your selected items to ensure continuing copyright compliance. If the scans are still compliant they will be made available in the 2013-14 module area on Blackboard. If they are not compliant, you will be informed via email.

It is not possible to automatically renew scans, as each renewal requires checking for continued copyright compliance. It is also not possible to batch renew all scans as we are required to abide by a policy of ‘reasonable use’. As a result, service users are asked to assess which of their eReserves will still be required for teaching, so that there are not unused or excessive numbers of scans on Blackboard.

The Blackboard team have worked hard to ensure that the renewal process is very quick and straightforward, requiring only a couple of clicks for each scan.

As with new requests, the eReserve team set a deadline by which renewal requests must be submitted in order for scans to be renewed in time for the start of a teaching block. All users who have previously made eReserves requests will be informed of this deadline via an email from the team.

The deadline for renewal requests for TB1 of the academic year 2013-14 is 12^th July 2013.

Yes. At the end of the current academic year, please email the eReserve team at lib-ereserve@bristol.ac.uk, listing the course codes for which scans will need to be archived. In order for the scans to be made available for a later academic year, you will need to request to reuse them before that academic year begins.

To do this, go to the eReserves tab on Blackboard and take the following steps:

1. Click on the link to “Submit and view my requests”
2. Select "My requests" in the top left hand corner
3. Select the academic year from which you would like to reuse scans
4. A list of all your requests for that year will appear, grouped by course code
5. Select “Request for new course” for each scan that is required for a different course code
6. Enter the new course code and a new “Date Required By”. Please also state in the “Additional Information” field that these scans have been archived for you. Then click Create.