August, September and January are rush times for processing course readings.  Submitting your requests as early as possible will help ensure readings will be available to students when needed.  Approximately one month prior to the start of term is ideal. 

• Requests are processed in the order they are received.
• We may need to order some of your items, so be sure to submit your requests as early as possible to ensure items are available to students on time.
• Due to the volume of requests received before the start of each term, we prioritize the first couple of weeks of readings initially. Remaining readings are then added in advance of the scheduled reading date.
• During off-peak times of the year, 1-2 days is the typical turnaround time. However, the availability and volume of items needing processing may impact this processing time.  

Under the Brock University Fair Dealing Policy the library can provide electronic access to one chapter, one article or 10% of a work. Course readings that exceed these allowances require seeking permissions from the publisher often at an additional cost. 

When an electronic version cannot be obtained, we advise reconsideration of which items are required for course completion and recommend seeking alternatives from our existing e-books, online journal articles, streaming video, or open educational resources (OERs). If you require assistance exploring alternatives, our Librarians are available to help you. You may also wish to consult our Research Guides that highlight resources by program, course, or special topic.

Most of the major textbook publishers — Pearson, Cengage, Houghton, McGraw Hill, Oxford University Press Canada Textbooks, Elsevier Imprints, Thieme — simply do not sell e-textbooks to libraries. This means that for courses that have adopted textbooks from these publishers, students who do not purchase the textbook have no alternative access to the textbook contents. 
 
The Library works with instructors to explore and identify viable textbook alternatives. 

1. Creating an online course pack through Ares by:
   • Posting individual book chapters or excerpts and scanned copies of the content, subject to copyright limitations. Copyright permission will be sought where feasible in cases where the excerpt falls outside of fair dealing guidelines.
   • Linking to content from the library’s existing collection of electronic resources (e-books, journal articles, streaming media, and other digital materials) or acquiring new content whenever possible.
2. Using an existing e-book from the library’s e-book collection OR requesting that the library purchase one.
   • Many academic e-books are not considered textbooks and are therefore available to purchase.
3. Adopting an open educational resource (OER).
   • OERs are freely available educational materials, including textbooks, that are openly licensed to allow for re-use and modification by instructors. 
   • Our Librarians can work with instructors to help find the right OER for your course.
     

1. Ebooks: If there is a digital version of the text available for use in libraries, and it is not available in our collection, we will try to acquire it for the Library.
2. Articles & Chapters: If the reading is an article or a chapter from the book that the Library doesn’t own, we will try to get it from a different institution and make it available to enrolled students under Fair Dealing provisions.
3. Personal Copies: You can place your personal print copy on short term loan for the duration of the course (please note: the Library is not responsible if the personal copy is lost or damaged), or drop it off for scanning under the Brock University Fair Dealing Policy . When you drop off an item at the Ask Us Desk, please include a note that contains your name, course code (e.g. PSYC 1F90), and the chapter or page range needed. The Library will notify you once the requested pages are scanned and made available electronically in Brightspace.
4. New Print Purchase: we can investigate purchasing a print copy of the required text.

Please consult the Requesting Films for Classes webpage.

Unless otherwise specified, course readings are removed at the end of each term. If desired, instructors can take materials off reserve before the end of term by sending us a reserve removal request to reserve@brocku.ca Personal copies of materials will be returned via internal mail, unless specified that you will pick up the material.