Electronic Reserve System Research Articles

Print vs. electronic readings in college courses: Cost-efficiency and perceived learning

We report surveys of 101 students in two undergraduate college courses about their use of required readings accessed via a university-administered electronic reserve system. About two-thirds of respondents printed at least some readings, although nearly half of the total pages were read online. Most students who printed incurred substantially lower total costs (in terms of both direct printing expense and time opportunity costs) than the projected price of a printed and bound coursepack with all of the readings—thus suggesting electronic provision to be cost-efficient for most students. Respondents reported an overall preference for electronically supplied readings. The advantage of electronic reserves was overwhelmingly perceived to be cost, but large majorities said they usually read more, and learned more, when printed readings are supplied. These findings suggest that university and student incentives to employ electronically supplied readings may be misaligned.

Leveraging Strengths and Meeting Demands: The Construction of a Modern and Comprehensive Electronic Reserves Service at Central Michigan University

The digitization of information has transformed how colleges and universities function; virtual classrooms, online course management systems, and digitized content have become the norm. Electronic reserves are the fulcrum of this transformation. Colleges and universities now have the opportunity to utilize their resources in new and transformative ways in order to provide the most effective education experience possible. For these dynamic opportunities to be fully realized, however, institutions must address the unique challenges that digital media create. This article analyzes how Central Michigan University changed the way it operates to create a modern and comprehensive electronic reserves system.

Electronic Reserve on a Regional Campus: The Evolution of the Service

Since the introduction of university regional campuses in Ohio, providing library services has been challenging. Because of new technologies, restricted budgets, and fewer staff, even recently implemented methods and procedures must be reexamined and revised. This article provides an overview of one regional campus library's evolving relationship with the main campus during the implementation and evolution of an electronic reserve system. The history and current use of a course management system is discussed along with the challenges faced by staff in the evolution of reserve services.

Electronic Reserves, Copyright, and CMS Integration–Six Years Later

SUMMARY Jacksonville State University's (JSU) Houston Cole (HCL) Library has always provided access to required course readings through a reserve circulation system. Prior to 2002, this services was “print based,” requiring students to photocopy materials held physically at the reserve desk in the library. In 2002, the library integrated the Docutek ERes system with the Voyager LMS system to implement electronic access to the “non-traditional” reserve materials. Along with providing access to required course readings through an electronic reserve system, HCL also offers faculty the option of using their course management software, Blackboard, to deliver the e-reserves to their students as part of their course content. This article details HCL's reserve system the status of six years after implementation, how the staff has handled copyright issues, and the integration of electronic reserves with the Blackboard Online Course System.

Implementing an Electronic Reserve System in an Academic Branch Library

The Rodgers Science and Engineering Library which serves students, faculty and researchers in the fields of science, engineering and nursing at the University of Alabama abandoned centralized scanning of electronic reserve materials and moved to branch library scanning in 2003. This article is about how the Library handled the transition in terms of management issues such as planning, executing, training, supervising, monitoring quality and promoting the remote service to faculty and students.

Course Reserves

Jacksonville State University's (JSU) Houston Cole (HCL) Library has always provided access to required course readings through a reserve system. In the past, this service was only available in print. Now, as JSU's programs move to the online arena, the Library is making its presence felt strongly in this new online environment. Along with providing access to required course readings through an electronic reserve system, Docutek's ERes, HCL also offers faculty the option of using their course-management software, such as Blackboard, to deliver the e-reserves to their students. This article details the technical implications of adding reserves to Blackboard courses.

Bypassing E-Reserves with Durable Links to Subscribed Content

At Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), the electronic reserves system available through the library's integrated library system (ILS) was activated and publicized, but no takers appeared. Yet, the number of traditional reserves requests decreased during the same period, suggesting that another method of connecting class registrants with content was taking place. Whether more content, such as journal articles and book chapters, was being diverted into coursepacks or delivered through library databases was not clear. However, the new Instruction Coordinator made it a goal to raise awareness of durable linking methods to subscribed database content in order to leverage expensive library subscriptions, to ensure legitimate distribution of such content and to integrate library content, alongside services, into the online learning environment via Blackboard courseware.

Electronic Reserves for the Nursing Programs at Jacksonville State University

Jacksonville State University's (JSU) Houston Cole Library (HCL) has always provided access to required course readings for its nursing program. In the past, HCL only offered print reserves. Now, as JSU's nursing programs move to the online arena, the Library's presence will be needed even more. Along with providing access to required course readings via an electronic reserve system, Docutek's ERes, the move to an online environment will require assistance in navigating the online system. Through a survey instrument, the authors determined the percentage of the JSU nursing faculty currently using the electronic reserve system. The authors also surveyed the JSU nursing students to determine the impact of the system on their studies.

Electronic Reserve in Health Science Center Libraries

The University of Florida (UF), Smathers Libraries has a centralized electronic reserve service, supported by Docutek's ERes software, to serve the needs of onsite and distance education courses. At the same time, the Health Science Center is experiencing explosive growth in distance education courses, particularly in pharmacy, nursing, occupational therapy, audiology, and forensic toxicology. Because the UF Health Science Center Libraries (HSCL) did not have an electronic reserve system and the library automation system did not offer a satisfactory option, the HSCL implemented ERes for their patrons in the six colleges they serve: Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Veterinary Medicine, and Health Professions (Rehabilitation Counseling, Physical Therapy, Clinical Psychology, Communicative Disorders, Health Services Administration, and Occupational Therapy). This joint venture has given both the HSCL staff and Smathers staff the opportunity to collaborate, yielding many benefits for the Libraries, faculty, and students. The ultimate goal is for the Libraries to share the same policies and procedures and to have a seamless transaction for the faculty and students who utilize them. This article will not only address the issues that led to the implementation of ERes and “how we did it,” but will also discuss the positive changes of such a project.

Implementing Electronic Reserves at Hofstra University

Setting up and implementing a new electronic reserves system at Hofstra University is the topic of this paper. This article discusses the initial set up and the reasons for choosing the machinery, software and file formats. As with any new service, there were problems with the initial decisions. Included are explanations of problem corrections. The electronic reserve service was successful and usage more than doubled within two semesters.

Electronic Reserves

SUMMARY The Auckland University of Technology Library in New Zealand has implemented an electronic course reserve system. This paper outlines the processes and issues involved in creating an electronic course reserve system. Included is a description of the steps taken to create Electronic Reserves using Endeavor's Voyager Integrated Library System and the software used for authenticating users. Cataloging, copyright, and policy issues encountered when creating bibliographic records using Voyager are discussed. Future developments in the field of electronic reserves are also considered.

Marketing Electronic Reserves to the Faculty

SUMMARY An electronic reserves committee was appointed in April 2005 by the Ashland University Library director and charged with researching and recommending an electronic reserve system. Support and interest for this endeavor was immediate from various faculty members. However, it became evident the comprehensive changeover from paper to electronic reserves would require positive marketing to bring reluctant faculty members on board. The initial roll-out of electronic reserves began with the fall 2005 semester and continued throughout the 2005-2006 academic calendar year. This article describes marketing and publicity efforts undertaken to introduce electronic reserves to the Ashland University community.

Analysis and Design of Electronic Reserves System Based on MVC Model

Analysis and Design of Electronic Reserves System Based on MVC Model

Creating, Designing, and Building an Electronic Reserve System

The purpose of this article is to provide the basic requirements and design for the in-house development of an electronic reserve system and to identify some of the pros and cons of implementing a homegrown system. The requirements contain enough technical detail to give the reader guidance for building a homegrown electronic reserve system, but are described in layman's terms so as not to turn this article into a technical specification manual. These requirements can alternately aid in evaluating third party stand-alone electronic reserve systems and integrated electronic reserve system modules from library automation vendors, or they can serve as a basis for developing a request for proposals (RFP). This article does not address image or text capture hardware, software, or workflow processes needed to populate an electronic reserve system. Instead, it is concerned with the database structure needed to support an electronic reserve system, the system architecture that enables the delivery of digitized course readings to the end user, the user interface that provides access to those images, and the copyright compliance mechanisms. The Web Course Reserve System described in this article is available as a prototype at the following Web site: http://www.uni.edu/∼wynstra/wcrs. This Web site includes scripts and design documents that can be used for recreating this prototype if the reader desires to use it as a starting point for local development.

A Consideration of Docutek's Electronic Reserve System in a University's Courseware Environment

On many college and university campuses, electronic reserve systems often operate concurrently with courseware products. In this article, consideration is made of the pros and cons of such efforts along with a table that compares features of three systems. The table can be used for advising faculty and comparing systems.

Migrating to a New Reserve System

Randall Library, UNCW, recently migrated from its established electronic course reserve system to Docutek's ERes course reserve system. This article reviews the migration path and discusses decision points and events along the way, the impact on reserve processes and workflow and challenges yet to be met.

Managing Electronic Reserves (review)

Managing Electronic Reserves is a much-needed collection of essays on various aspects of electronic reserves. Jeff Rosedale, editor, is founder of the ACRL Electronic [End Page 488] Reserves Discussion Group and assistant library director at Manhattanville College. He also maintains the Electronic Reserves Clearinghouse website. Mr. Rosedale's observation that "Reserve services can be vexing to all parties connected with them" (p. vi) suggests both the opportunities to better serve the academic community as well as the difficulties that accompany electronic reserves. Library journal articles have discussed various aspects of electronic reserves, but this is the first monograph devoted to e-reserves and its ten experts do, indeed, cover the waterfront. For example, the first chapter by Lorre Smith is an extremely useful overview in question-and-answer form. Ms. Smith covers staffing, equipment, vendor choice, policies and procedures, and copyright issues with many "where to get more information" notes. She also briefly addresses marketing and promotional aspects of electronic reserves. Wayne Perryman's chapter also briefly addresses this subject and includes excellent appendices on Humboldt State University's electronic reserves system, as well as related FAQs, request forms, and guidelines.

Electronic Reserves

Building a functional, efficient, and user-friendly electronic reserves system requires the interaction of many different pieces of software and technology. Electronic reserves and electronic document delivery in general present many challenges to academic libraries trying to implement or improve on current services and to make their resources more accessible to their patrons. This article examines many of the key technological issues in providing online course reserve material and analyzes possible methods for working with the technology's inherent advantages and disadvantages, based on a pilot project at the University of Illinois' Undergraduate Library.

A Model for Choosing an Electronic Reserves System: A Pre-Implementation Study at the Library of Long Island University's Brooklyn Campus

ABSTRACT This study explores the nature of electronic reserves (E-Re-serves) and investigates the possibilities of implementing the E-Reserves at the Long Island University/Brooklyn Campus Library (LIU/BCL).

Student response to a new electronic reserves system

This survey investigated students’ experience with and reactions to a college library’s new electronic reserve system (ERS). Results document active use, a preference for ERS over traditional reserves, and enthusiasm with enhanced access. Somewhat greater satisfaction was found among off-campus students and those who had previously used traditional reserves.