A case study of a large urban academic library with an established electronic reserve system and copyright management database was attempted in order to analyze restrictions in publishers' electronic reserve copyright policies. The researcher proposed that publishers' electronic reserve copyright policies and the treatment of copyright permission requests restrict what and how much can be made available to students on an electronic reserve system. Background research on fair use, copyright laws, and library and publisher policies and positions on electronic reserve copyright issues is presented. The research methodology is outlined and analysis tools are explained. The results of the study and suggestions for future research are discussed. Appendices include samples of the analysis tools.