Documentation: Adding reserves
From ReservesDirect: Open Source EReserves System
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Using the instructor interface
The most direct way to add reserves to a class is to click on the "Add a Reserve" tab, which gives you access to wizards that will walk you through each of the four ways you can add materials to your class in ReservesDirect. The home page of this tab displays a list of your current and future classes; select which class you would like to add reserves to. If you do not see the class you are looking for, you may create a new class or reactivate one of your previous classes using the links at the bottom of the page. You can also access the "Add a Reserve" page from within any class by clicking on the "Add new materials" link just above the list of reserves materials.
To add a reserve, click on the title of the class you would like to add the item to. You are presented with four options for adding a Reserve:
Search the archive
ReservesDirect has an Archive of over 70,000 items that have been digitized since electronic reserves began in 1999. The bulk of the content you will find here is articles and book chapters in PDF format, but the Archive also contains a good deal of streaming audio as well as documents in a variety of formats. You may search the entire Archive for materials suitable for your class.
Performing a Search
After clicking on "Search for the Item", you are presented with a screen that allows you to perform a title/author search or to search by an instructor's name. The author/title search is a keyword search that will return materials that have your search terms anywhere in the author or title. Searching by instructor will return a complete list of all classes that the instructor has taught and the items that were on reserve for each course.
Selecting Items
You may select as many items as you wish from the search results by clicking the checkbox next to the item. Preview items by clicking on the "Preview" link. If your search returns more than 20 results, navigate multiple pages of results by using the "Next | Previous" links. You may also sort your search results by author or title if you have performed an author/title search.
Uploading Items
Select a File
Selecting a file to upload is much like attaching a file to an email. To select a file, simply click on the "Browse" button next to the "File" field in the upload form. This will open a file browser window on your computer. Navigate to the file you wish to upload and select it. This will automatically fill in the file path on the upload form.
You may upload almost any file type to ReservesDirect. The most common file types currently in use are Adobe Acrobat (PDF), Word (.doc), Excel (.xls), and PowerPoint (.ppt). You may also upload other popular files such as JPEG, TIFF, and mP3, as well as SPSS data sets and much more.
When uploading PDFs, we recommend keeping file size to about 2 megabytes (2 MB)--or about 25 clear, clean sheets--to optimize downloading and printing times. The default file size limit is 10MB.
Add metadata and finish uploading
Instructors can add a variety of metadata as well as notes from the upload screen. Only the title and file path fields are required. They also have the option to select a document type and icon. If the instructor leaves the "Document Type Icon" drop-down menu set to "default", RD will auto-select an icon and doctype based on the mime type and file extension of the document. A "success" screen displays after upload which allows the instructor to review the item they just added (the icon can be modified by clicking on "edit item" if RD didn't guess right) and allows the instructor to select what action they want to take next.
Copyright
We recommend that your library should establish a copyright policy if it does not already have one. Because ReservesDirect allows instructors to upload their own materials, you may want to formulate a policy that addresses this capability.
Adding URLs (Linking)
Gives the same metadata options as uploading a document, but accepts a URL rather than a file path to a document.
Faxing documents
On the "Add Reserve" tab, when you click on the option to "Fax a Document", you will see a screen that gives you instructions for making a fax to the ReservesDirect server. You do not have to go to this page first before you fax in a document; you can simply send faxes to 404-727-9089. The server will automatically convert your fax to an Adobe PDF and place it in a holding queue so that you can "claim" it and add it to one of your classes.
File Size
Please limit your faxes to 25 sheets; faxes exceeding 25 will be split into seperate files.
Claiming Faxes
Faxed documents will remain available in the "claim" queue until midnight of the day that they are faxed in. At midnight all faxed documents are deleted.
To view the fax queue, click on the button that says "After your fax has finished transmitting, click here." This page displays all faxes that are currently waiting to be claimed.
You can identify your fax by the number you faxed it from as well as the time stamp; you may also click the "preview" button to view your document.
Check the box next to your document and click the "Continue" button.
Describing Files
You have a number of options for describing your file. The most basic descriptors are title and author (title is required for display to students in the class). Title will display most prominently to students in the class; the other fields will appear below the title. When describing your documents, try to be as thorough as possible so that students can identify materials and cite them if necessary.
If you are faxing more than one chapter from a book, it is generally best to put the chapter or movement title in the "Title" field and use the remaining fields to describe the main work that the selection is taken from.
The various fields, such as Volume/Edition, can be used for different purposes depending on the type of document you are faxing (book chapter, journal article, musical work, etc.). The fields will accept whatever text you enter into them.
Changing item icons
ReserveDirect attempts to assign an icon to documents to indicate what type of file they are. The most common item icons are PDF, www link, Office document/text file, audio file, video file, physical book, and physical multimedia (CD, DVD, etc).
Icons are assigned to items with an item group of ELECTRONIC (everything that is uploaded, faxed, or linked) when the item is first added to ReservesDirect. RD attempts to do this based on the item's mime type and/or extension. The "Add Reserve" screen will display "Default" for the icon, and RD will assign the icon after the user clicks the "Add Reserve" button to submit the form. If you would like to assign a specific icon to the item before submitting the form, simply select the desired icon from the drop-down menu. You may also edit the icon for any item on the "Edit Reserve" and "Edit Item" screens.
The physical item icons (a book for monographs and a disc for multimedia) are tied directly to the item group for these materials. The "Add Physical Item" screen for staff specifically asks for an item group of either MONOGRAPH or MULTIMEDIA, and RD then assigns an icon based on that item group. The icon for monographs and multimedia materials cannot be changed on the "Edit Reserve" screen as it can with ELECTRONIC items. To change the icon, staff must change the item group.
Reviewing items you have added
Immediately after adding an item to ReservesDirect, a "success" screen displays and indicates whether the item was added to your class. On this screen, you will see a "review" box that shows you the item you added along with all the citation information. If you made an error and would like to correct it, simply click on the "edit" button that appears in the review box and you will be taken to the edit reserve screen for that item. Any changes you make will appear immediately in your class.
Availability of Materials
Digital items that you add to your class are immediately available for use by students, as long as the class is active for the current semester. Physical materials that you request by searching the archive generate a request that gets sent to Reserves staff for processing. Requests will show a status of "In Process" until the item has been retrieved by staff and successfully added to your class. Please allow time for staff to retrieve the item from the shelves and add it to your class. Some items may take longer to obtain if they must be recalled from another patron. If you have questions about the availability of an item, please contact Reserves staff at your library.
Using the staff interface
Staff can get to the main page for adding reserves either by clicking on the "Add a Reserve" tab or from within any class by clicking on the "Add new materials" link just above the list of reserve materials.
Processing Requests (physical items)
This link shows the Request Queue for physical items requested by instructors to add to classes. Items enter the queue when instructors reactivate a class or when they search for items and select physical items to add to their class. Requests are assigned a unique ID in the queue. The request queue is set up to handle multiple libraries using the sysem at the same time. Requests are assigned to a library according to the department of the class the request is for (every department is assigned to a processing library). Every staff member also has a library as part of their profile (as of RD 2.2.0, this attribute must still be set through the database back end). When the staff user opens the request queue, by default they see requests for their library. They can also select other libraries to view from the drop-down menu at the top of the screen.
Requests display the instructor, class, and requested loan period, along with title and author information. Staff can sort the request queue by request ID/date, instructor, or class. They can also select requests for printing. Clicking on the "Print Requests" button brings up a printer-friendly screen with all selected requests. By default, requests will print on separate pieces of paper. This setting can be changed in the style sheet (the style is printRequest). The print screen also pulls holding information live from the catalog to generate an up-to-date pull list).
Clicking on the "Process Request" button next to any request will bring up the Add Physical Item screen with item information pre-filled. It may be necessary to pull back holdings information fresh from the catalog, or to update the bib fields. This can be accomplished by simply scanning the barcode of the item and clicking "Search". Select the correct library, loan period, etc, then select the copies to be added and submit the form.
Add Electronic Items
This link allows the user to either upload a document or add a URL. Item metadata on this page is the same as what instructors see when uploading or adding a URL. Staff have a few options when adding items that instructors do not. Staff can set the item to ACTIVE or INACTIVE from this screen, can set a date for the item to appear (a "hide until" date), and can add four different kinds of notes (instructors can add only one kind).
Add Physical Items
This link allows staff to add physical items to ReservesDirect and place them on reserve in the ILS as well. For physical items, ReservesDirect is used for display (allowing all items on reserve, regardless of format, to display in the same list), while the ILS (Integrated Library System, such as Sirsi Unicorn, Endeavor Voyager, etc.) is used for handling the actual circulation of the item. From this screen, staff can lookup items by barcode, edit the item metadata that is pulled back from the catalog (via Z39.50), select a loan rule for the item, specify which library the book will be held at, and specify whether or not RD should attempt to create a reserve record in the ILS or not. Read the basic concepts about adding physical items for more details on what happens on this screen.
Duplicating Items
In certain cases it may be desirable to "duplicate" items as you are adding them to the system, such as when you are adding multiple documents from the same book and don't want to type in the title and author every time, or when you are adding multiple tracks from the same CD. In these cases, after you add the item, on the "Success" screen in the "review" box, click on "duplicate" next to the item you just added. This will open the "Edit Item" screen with all of the metadata and file information pre-filled. The title field will get the word "(duplicate)" added to it to indicate it is a duplicate of another item. Change the file, URL, and/or metadata as desired and save the new item.
Basic Copyright Compliance Management
(Available in RDv2.3)ReservesDirect does not restrict the materials which may be uploaded by staff, instructors or proxies. It is therefore necessary for staff to review each reserves list to ensure that uploaded materials comply with your institution's copyright guidelines. Two fields have been added to the course_instances table to store the date or review and the reviewing staff or admin user, reviewed_date and reviewed_by. The default for each field is NULL indicating the reserves list has not been reviewed.
By clicking the "Approve Copyright" button located in the bottom left corner of the Class Edit screen a staff/admin user will set the reviewed_date and reviewed_by. This will change the "Copyright Approved:" label from "Staff review needed" to "Approved by lastname, firstname on date time".
Copy or Reactivate a Class will copy the reviewed flag, which persists until an item requiring review is added to the reserves list. Actions requiring review include adding electronic items by upload or fax. Administrators can reset the copyright flag from the Admin tab.
