Library Course Materials

Find library course materials (students)

Students can find library course material items through their course Canvas page. Library course materials are in the Library Course Materials tab on the left side of the page.

Make library course materials available (instructors)

Health Sciences instructors can request course materials through the library to increase their accessibility to students.

Library staff work with instructors to give electronic access to the course materials they request, including materials not currently owned by the Libraries.

If you are part of another U of M college or school, visit the main Course Materials Services page or contact [email protected].

Course materials request process

Use the Course Materials Request Form or email [email protected] to place library course materials requests.

Include the following information when you place a request:

Course name and number (including the section number)
Instructor's name and email
List of materials with full citations to be placed on reserve. List the citations in the order you would like for them to appear, such as by week, module, or alphabetical order. Attach a Google Doc or Microsoft Word document for longer lists. There is a limit of 100 items per course.

Deadlines and procedures

The reserves deadline for Spring 2024 is November 29.
Requests are accepted past the deadline, but late requests may not be available on the first day of class.
Requests are processed in the order that they are received.

Request library course materials

Copyright and fair use for course materials

Applications of fair use are predicated on the Libraries' General Principles of Fair Use in Education, and require access controls that restrict access to reserve materials to only registered students and their instructors.

Whenever copyrighted works are used for course materials under the provisions of Fair Use (Section 107), instructors are responsible for the following:

All materials used support course-related teaching, scholarship, or research.
Determination, on a case-by-case basis, whether the use of a copyrighted work requires permission or qualifies as fair use. University Libraries staff will provide consultation assistance in evaluating the qualification of any specific use as a fair use. In addition, the Libraries' Copyright Information Services website provides more information for understanding fair use.
When permissions are needed, instructors or their departments are expected to make arrangements for permissions.
Whenever copying original materials is involved, whether the copies are made by instructors or by the library, only the amount needed to accomplish the specific educational purpose should be copied. In consultation with library staff, instructors will determine any limits on the amount of material to be used.

See the University Libraries' acceptable use of electronic resources page for more details and general conditions.