FAQs

Books

The library receives a list of all required textbooks from the Bookstore.

1. If the library already owns the title as an ebook, we will automatically add it to a course reserves page for your course.
2. If the library does not own the title as an ebook, we will try to find it in the Internet Archive OR we will try to buy it as an ebook. If successful, we will automatically add it to a course reserves page for your course.
3. If the library is unable to buy an ebook, we will notify you about options.
   • We can put a print copy on course reserves.
   • We can scan or try to get copyright compliant and accessible PDFs of selected chapters you request via the Interlibrary Loan & Document Delivery form on the For Faculty: Resources & Services page. You can post these PDFs to Canvas.
   • You can contact your liaison for help identifying OER / Open Educational Resources or electronic resources that the library already owns.
4. If there are required titles that we aren’t able to provide to your students, encourage them to take advantage of our interlibrary loan service.

Please keep in mind there may be acquisition limits due to costs, licensing, or other parameters. In particular, acquiring ebooks or copyright-compliant PDFs from big-name, commercial textbook publishers will be most challenging. Many choose not to make their ebooks available for libraries to purchase. They prefer to sell or rent directly to students as this is more profitable for them. If you want to know whether the titles you want to use for classes are available for us to purchase as ebooks BEFORE you submit them to the bookstore, request them through our Purchase and Course Reserves Request Form (Google Form). Otherwise, you can just wait for us to work through the bookstore list.

DVDs and Films

You have a number of options for showing films to your students.

1. Place the DVD on reserve at the library through our Purchase and Course Reserves Request Form (Google Form).
2. Sharing your computer screen while you play a DVD in a video conference based class may fall under fair use. San Diego State University Library offers a list of criteria which faculty can use to assess if each of their uses is acceptable or not. This will not work for services like Netflix or Hulu. In any case, the experience may be less than optimal for students.
3. Use films from the library’s streaming services, Docuseek, Films on Demand and Academic Video Online. Library staff can link individual films from these services on the course reserves page for your courses, or you can copy film URLs and include them directly in Canvas.
4. Anyone who lives, works, owns property, or attends school in MA may register for a Boston Public Library eCard, which provides access to Kanopy and Hoopla. Copy the instructions to register for an eCard above and the link to the title from Kanopy using the "Share" button and paste them to Canvas.
5. If your desired films are unavailable via DVD or the streaming services listed above, you can go to JustWatch to determine where you and your students can stream, rent, or purchase films for a fee.
6. Netflix does license some of their titles for educational screenings. If such a license exists, you'll see it linked under the title's image in the Netflix Media Center.

Book Chapters and Journal Articles

To request scanned chapters and articles, use the Interlibrary Loan & Document Delivery form on the library homepage.

Help

Direct your questions about reserves to discovery_access@wheatoncollege.edu