As we become more sensitive to the high prices of textbooks and other course materials, using the Library’s collection via the eReserves service is a great way for faculty to create a no-cost experience for students! The Library’s electronic resources (both e-books and articles from our databases) are available from off-campus and on any device, and are fully accessible.

Library Reserves

The Library has thousands of eBooks and articles available for you to consider as course materials, which are available from off-campus and on any device, and are fully accessible. We are also happy to make items from the Library’s print collection electronic and accessible for you.

• You can search the Library catalog for ebooks and other materials
• The Library will place Library materials on electronic reserve for you by linking to our resources, or scanning Library materials.
  • You can place reserves requests at the Course Reserves website
  • If you have any questions about the e-reserves service, please contact reserves@csuci.edu
  • While we find students appreciate the 24-hour access to e-materials, the Library will happily place your print textbook on reserve (those shelves behind the circulation desk)!
• If you would like to partner with a librarian to find the best no-cost library resources for your class to serve your students, we encourage you to make an appointment with librarian Janet Pinkley (pinkley@csuci.edu)
• If we don’t have something you need for your course, you can recommend an item for purchase

Library Streaming Media Service

The Library offers our streaming media service as well: if the Library owns the film, we can stream the video for you in your Canvas course instance!

• You can place streaming media requests by completing the Online Streaming Media Request Form 
  • If you have any questions about the streaming media service, please contact media@csuci.edu
  • If we do not own the film, you can request that the Library purchase materials or consider donating an item to the Library’s collection.

Open Educational Resources

If you exhaust the Library’s broad collection, another option for no-cost materials for students are OER or Open Educational Resources, which are open and freely available materials. Your OER Ambassadors out of TLI and librarian Janet Pinkley would be happy to help you locate relevant materials!

Posting Materials Not Owned by the Library

Faculty are always encouraged to post their own materials to their courses, where they find those materials are most important to student learning outcomes. We highly recommend working with the Library to find materials that are already owned and accessible, or to recommend we add items to the collection, but we understand that we cannot buy everything on our wish list.

Faculty are empowered to make the decision about whether the materials they post abide by copyright laws. Not sure if your use of a document, link, textbook, or video falls within the fair use exception to copyright?

• Use the CSU Fair Use factors Checklist
• See the thorough CSULB guide to copyright and fair use