Course Reserves

Your instructors will often place reserve reading for your courses in the Library's Reserve Room. When an item is on reserve, a temporary record for it appears in a special subset of the catalog, especially for course reserves.

Look for this heading near the top of the page :

Click on the heading that says Databases/Reserves. This label is something of a misnomer -- it doesn't lead to databases, but to a page giving you access to various subsets within our catalog. Click on the one that says Course Reading/Reserves.

Note that you are no longer searching the entire Morton Library catalog, but only one subset within it : the records for those items that are currently on reserve for a class. You now have a different set of choices in the Field to search drop-down menu : you can search by the title of the book, by instructor, course name, course number and so on.

As an example, we'll enter the name of a member of the faculty, and choose Instructor from the drop-down menu.

Note that the professor we are looking for is Dr. Frances Taylor Gench. You receive a list of everything Dr. Gench has placed on reserve for her classes in the current semester or term.

You may also search by course number. For example :

You will receive a list of all of the materials placed on reserve for that particular class. If the course number search yields no results, try a space between the letters and numbers, such as BIB 221.

To find the call number for a particular item, click on its little blue number on the far left side of the screen.

When the record opens, find the line labelled Holdings near the top of the record, and click on All items.

Our call number is found in the blue table near the bottom of the screen. (We are still working with the vendor to improve this display -- it's not yet formatted correctly.) The books set aside for course reading in our Reserve Room are shelved by call number, so you will need this number to find the item you want on the shelf.

Remember that you are still in the Course Reserves subset of our catalog. To return to the entire catalog, go back to the Databases/Reserves page and choose Morton Library Catalog.

If your syllabus lists the items on Reserve ...

You can also search for a specific item in the entire catalog, without going to the Course Reserves subset. If your syllabus lists the titles your instructor has placed on reserve, just do a Title search in the full catalog for the item you want. When you find it, click on the little blue number to open the record (as in the example above). Then on the Holdings line, click on All items. Look for the call number in the blue box display, as in the illustration above.

Use the call number to locate the item you need on the shelf in the Reserve Room. Please observe the special rules for using and borrowing these items.