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Course Reserves: Home

A “Course Reserve” is any streaming video, print book, and eBook purchased by the Simmons University Library for a course. While course reserves are most often used by students enrolled in specific classes, anyone in the Simmons community may access these items.

During an open purchasing period each semester, faculty may request the Library to purchase streaming videos, print books, and eBooks for their courses. After reviewing the request, the Library will then purchase the item(s), make them available for students, and notify the requestor that the materials are ready to access.

  • Print books that are placed on Reserve are shelved behind the Library Service Desk, and have shorter loan periods than other print books (3 hours, 24 hours, or 7 days). Print books placed on Reserve will appear in the Course Reserves list in the catalog, listed next to their associated course number, course instructor, and department.

 

  • eBooks may have user limits due to licensing requirements. In these cases, only 1-3 users may be able to open an eBook at the same time, depending on the resource. If you are requesting a chapter of a book, please make an Interlibrary Loan request instead of a Course Reserve one.

 

  • Streaming videos are licensed for either one academic year or one fiscal year (depending on the vendor), beginning on the first day the film was purchased by the Library. Each film in the Library catalog contains dates that streaming video licenses end in the "Access Note" of a resource. After this date, faculty will need to make a new Course Reserves request each time they would like the Library to re-license the film, typically during the purchasing period of the semester you need it by.

 

The Library purchases new course reserves only if the request is made during a purchase period and the item(s) are requested directly by a faculty member.

Course reserve requests are usually processed within five business days.

Course Reserve Purchasing Periods

Semester Purchasing Period
Summer 2025 Ongoing
Fall 2025 08/19/2025 - 09/26/2025
Spring 2026 01/06/2026 - 02/13/2026

 

Before Making a Course Reserves Request...

Simmons University Library owns many textbooks and eBooks. We recommend searching our catalog for our current holdings. For print books already owned by the Library but not yet placed on Reserve, please make a request.

The catalog also contains dates that streaming video licenses end in the "Access Note" of a resource in the catalog. After this date, faculty will need to make a new Course Reserves request (during a purchasing window) each time they would like the Library to re-license the film.

Catalog

 

Make a Course Reserves Request

Please fill out the Course Reserves form during the semester purchasing period you need the resources by.

Course Reserves Form

FAQ

Requests made outside the purchasing window for the semester are considered on a case-by-case basis. Please fill out the Course Reserves form and we will get back to you.

Unfortunately, the Library isn't able to acquire videos in some situations. If that is the case, we will email you to let you know.

Reasons can include:

  • The film is new and is not yet available on DVD or streaming. If it is being shown locally, you could assign seeing the film at a theater or screening.
  • The film is "out of print" and is no longer available. You could try submitting at interlibrary loan request for the DVD.
  • The film may have been screened at theaters and/or festivals, but was never distributed on DVD or streaming.
  • The film is not available on Library streaming services; it is only available on commercial streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Disney+, or AppleTV+. Licensing restrictions prohibit the Library from ordering videos from these services. You may be able to show all or part of a DVD or streaming video that you personally own or have access to, but there may be copyright restrictions. See the Library's Copyright Compliance guide for more information.

Please see our Finding & Requesting Videos guide to assist you in finding low and no cost options. The Guide also provides links and descriptions to a selection of streaming videos for which the library has perpetual licenses and which you can access any time.

Unfortunately, the Library isn't able to acquire eBooks in some situations. If that is the case, we will email you to let you know.

Reasons can include:

  • The book is new and is not yet available as an eBook.
  • Due to licensing restrictions, the eBook is not available for institutional use.

For in-person courses, the Library can purchase a print copy and place it on Reserve behind the Service Desk.

All streaming videos are licensed for 1 year, beginning on the date of purchase. You can check the end date of a film license in the “Access note” of a catalog record. For example, access to Black Panther ended August 31st, 2024.

You must fill out the Course Reserves form each time you would like to re-license the film, typically during the purchasing period of the semester you need it by.

If the film license is current and you are having technical difficulties, please reach out to simlibacq@simmons.edu for support.

If you requested a print book to be put on reserve and it does not appear on the Course Reserves list, please contact us at simlibacq@simmons.edu.

While we consider eBooks and streaming videos requested by faculty for their class ‘course reserves,’ we typically do not add eBooks and streaming videos to the Course Reserves catalog list.

Unlike print books, eBooks and streaming videos do not need to be physically shelved in the Course Reserves stacks and are accessed via their respective link in the catalog.

Contact Acquisitions

libraryacquisitions@simmons.edu

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