Access to Electronic Reserves expanded

Access to Electronic Reserves expanded

August 27, 2015

Share

[Electronic Reserves]
Mark Swartz, copyright specialist with Queen鈥檚 Library, and assistant Shelby Stinnissen, display the new scanner donated to Electronic Reserves. (University Relations)

Access to course material is now easier than ever thanks to the expansion of the system.

E-reserves, offered by Queen鈥檚 Library, allows instructors to make course materials available online, at no cost to students.

The service includes scanning print books and journal articles, acquiring and processing copyright permissions, creating and providing links to electronic library resources and adapting materials to meet accessibility standards.

Available through Moodle starting in 2013, the service can now be used with onQ courses as well as through stand-alone webpages, providing access to faculty who do not use a learning management system.

Since its launch, Mark Swartz, copyright specialist with Queen鈥檚 Library, has seen the e-reserves service continually grow and improve.

鈥淲e scan items and link to electronic resources  including streaming audio and video鈥 he says. 鈥淎ll instructors have to do is give us a reading list and we take it from there.鈥

The Queen鈥檚 Library also recently received a high-quality scanner that will make the service better than ever.

鈥淎s part of the service we scan book chapters for faculty to be used in courses and we have a new scanner that was donated from the Campus Bookstore, which is amazing,鈥 Mr. Swartz says. 鈥淭he scans look almost identical to what you would see in a book.鈥

The new scanner also improves the accessibility of the materials for students with perceptual disabilities, Mr. Swartz points out, as the scans are more easily read by screen readers.

It鈥檚 an easy, accessible and quicker solution to providing course materials.

鈥淲e do it all basically in relation to course materials,鈥 Mr. Swartz says. 鈥淔aculty just give us their syllabus and we take care of everything else.鈥