She doesn’t have much time. With only an hour until she teaches her next class, photocopying articles for everyone in the class doesn’t seem too plausible. Teaching a full course load, this professor needs a quicker solution.

He waited too late. Not realizing he lost his assignment, it’s past midnight and it’s due in six hours. A full-time student and employee, he can’t access the material until his class begins. But it’s a lost cause because the course instructor doesn’t accept late work.

Electronic Reserves solves both of their problems.

The Mathewson-IGT Knowledge Center offers Electronic Reserves service for faculty, allowing professors to post supplemental course materials online. Offered since 1997, the service costs nothing for faculty to use.

With Electronic Reserves, professors and teaching assistants can post journal articles, book chapters, the course syllabus, review sheets, power points and more. It can also serve as a place for students to post papers if the course requires peer review.

“It saves the faculty member time and resources,” said Erin Silva, document delivery and E-Reserves librarian. “It saves them the time of photocopying or the money that they have to spend photocopying. It (also) provides easier access to students because they can access the materials online at any time.”

For professors who would rather use WebCT over Electronic Reserves, the Knowledge Center offers the option to digitize documents, placing them on a CD that the professor can use to post on WebCT. The Knowledge Center also covers copyright charges, depending on the cost.

To get set up with Electronic Reserves, send an email to ereserves@unr.edu with the course name and requested services. Faculty can also get Electronic Reserves by stopping by the library services desk on the second floor of the Knowledge Center or by filling out the “course reserve request” form on the Knowledge Center website.