Course reserves for physical materials (print books, DVDs, etc.) are suspended until further notice. This guide will link you to some of the electronic resources available through the WSU libraries to support your courses.

Please contact your Subject Specialist Librarian for help with locating appropriate quality resources for your courses.

Requests for Monographs (Books)

Instructors can use our Course Reserves form to request access to a monograph for your course. The libraries will attempt to procure an ebook version to fulfill monograph requests.

Due to publisher restrictions, in general, the library cannot provide e-versions of standard textbooks published by commercial textbook publishers available to students. Standard textbook publishers include Cengage, Houghton, McGraw Hill, Macmillan, Oxford University Press, Pearson, W.W. Norton. Please see our Frequently Asked Questions below for more information.

Wayne State University Libraries statement on Commercial Textbook Course Reserves in Response to COVID-19

Requests for Book Chapters

The libraries are required to adhere to copyright guidelines when providing scanned content. We can provide limited scanned chapters of books from our collections or through Interlibrary Loan. Please request book chapters through our Interlibrary Loan service.

Requests for Articles (Permalinks)

Please use our Permalink Request Form to request copyright compliant permalinks to articles and other published materials available through the library's licensed resources.

Requests for Streaming Media

The library is unable to fill all requests for streaming media. Requests are limited to those available through our licensed streaming platforms, or when producers/distributors provide reasonable streaming options. 

Let us do the work for you. You do not need to research platforms or options. Please complete the Streaming Media Request Form with your course information and film title and we will do the rest.

Why can't the library make my textbook available online?

Textbooks* are books published specifically for use in courses. They usually have the following content and design elements:

• Cover generally accepted concepts
• Provide for logical development of the material
• Topics are presented in major parts, chapters, sections, and subsections that are organized in a way that facilitates understanding
• Contain examples and problem assignments

Many textbooks are published by recognized textbook publishers, such as MacMillan, Pearson, McGraw Hill, Cengage, WW Norton. These publishers release their e-textbooks on proprietary platforms. Access to the platforms is restricted to a single user and limited to a certain number of registered devices (usually 2-4). The Digital Copyright Management on these platforms makes it impossible for the library to purchase a version that can be accessed by multiple users. Additionally, the user licensing agreements generally forbid this type of use.

Read more about it...

Wayne State University Libraries Statement on Commercial Textbook Course Reserves in Response to COVID-19

*Textbook definition adapted from: https://open.bccampus.ca/2014/06/10/the-5-rules-of-textbook-development/

Why can't the library convert DVD's?

No matter who owns the physical DVD or VHS recording, there is no fair use argument for breaking the digital copyrights management (DCM) on media conversion from a fixed medium (like a DVD) to digital for streaming. This type of activity is covered under the Digital Copyright Millenium Act (DCMA) which only provides for screen capture of reasonable portions of a film to be used for critique or analysis in a class. The university is legally unable to DVD/VHS to digital conversion, as such activity would violate the WSU Acceptable Use of Information Technology Resources policy.

In accordance with the Exemption to Prohibition on Circumvention of Copyright Protection Systems for Access Control Technologies, A Rule by the Copyright Office, Library of Congress on 10/26/2018 (Final Rule) and in alignment with the provisions of the TEACH Act, you may:

• Use screen capture software to capture clips (short portions) into new works for criticism or comment. (best practice suggests 20% or less of total film running time)
• Post this screen capture using a streaming system that would prevent downloading and distribution of the file. 

Please consult our instructions for capture and streaming using ECHO 360 to make these resources available in your Canvas course site.