Faculty Resources

MWCC faculty are invited to place materials for their courses on reserve in the Library

The following guidelines have been established to assist all faculty members with the process:

• Reserve materials may include books and other materials owned by the library, books owned by the instructor, previous exams, photocopies of journal articles, and other various media (for example, video recordings, software, etc.).
• All copied materials must adhere to copyright guidelines; see below for specific copyright compliance.
• Books from other libraries will not be accepted.
• If personal copies of a book are to be placed on reserve, please understand that a barcode will be placed on the cover.
• The library is not responsible for damage to personal copies.
• Reserve materials are located at the library circulation desk. Materials are filed under the course designation and instructor name.
• Materials should be placed on reserve before they are assigned to students. Please allow a minimum of 2 working days for processing new reserves.
• Reserve material is processed in the order that it is received, and is not available for use until processing is completed.
• Instructors must complete a materials reserve form available on this page or by completing a form available at the circulation desk.
• Once an item is added to reserve, the library oversees lending privileges related to that item.
• At the end of the academic year, all materials owned by the library will be returned to the library’s collection. Personal copies will be returned to the owning instructor periodically for evaluation. Instructors will be contacted by the library to retrieve their personal copies or to designate them for recycling. If an instructor does not retrieve their personal copies within a month of notification, those items will be recycled.

Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S. Code) governs the making of reproductions (including photocopies) of copyrighted material.  In accepting copies for reserve, the MWCC library assumes all copies have been made in compliance with the “Fair Use” provisions of Section 107.

The “fair use” doctrine allows limited reproduction of copyrighted works for educational and research purposes. The relevant portion of the copyright statue provides that the “fair use” of a copyrighted work, including reproduction “for purposes such as criticism, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research” is not an infringement of copyright [17 USC (1)107]. The law lists the following factors as the ones to be evaluated in determining whether a particular use of a copyrighted work is a permitted “fair use,” rather than an infringement of the copyright:

• 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.

These guidelines were compiled, in part, from the Copyright Law of the United States of America, Section 107, 108 and 401, contained in Title 17 of the United States Code. In compliance with copyright law and the doctrine of fair use, the library assesses the need for copyright compliance and applies the following guidelines for course reserve materials:

1. Copyright permission is not necessary for exams, syllabi, lecture notes, public domain materials or government documents, publications over 75 years old, works without a copyright symbol that were published before 1978, materials used for one semester, or materials that are copyrighted under the instructor’s name.
2. Copyright permission is necessary for a journal article or book chapter that will be placed on reserve for more than one semester. It is also required for multiple chapters from a single book, or multiple articles from a single journal. Subsequent uses of the photocopied material must be accompanied by written permission of the copyright holder.  If permission is necessary, it is the responsibility of the instructor to obtain permission.  In addition, permission for particular use of copyrighted material(s) may be obtained through the Copyright Clearance Center.  A reference librarian will be happy to assist you with the process, if necessary.

Please note:

• All photocopies of copyrighted materials require a notice of copyright on the cover page, which states: © Year and Name of copyright holder (e.g. ©1998 New England Publishing Associates).
• The bibliographic citation for the chapter or article must also appear on the cover page. Articles lacking this information will be returned unprocessed.
• One copy of any article may be placed on reserve for every FIVE students registered in any one class.
• Photocopied materials may be used for reserve for up to ONE academic year ONLY unless the instructor has obtained permission from the copyright holder.