Access to course material is now easier than ever thanks to the expansion of the Electronic Reserves (e-reserves) system.

E-reserves, offered by Queen’s Library, allows instructors to make course materials available online, at no cost to students.

The service includes scanning print books and journal articles, acquiring and processing copyright permissions, creating and providing links to electronic library resources and adapting materials to meet accessibility standards.

Available through Moodle starting in 2013, the service can now be used with onQ courses as well as through stand-alone webpages, providing access to faculty who do not use a learning management system.

Since its launch, Mark Swartz, copyright specialist with Queen’s Library, has seen the e-reserves service continually grow and improve.

“We scan items and link to electronic resources  including streaming audio and video” he says. “All instructors have to do is give us a reading list and we take it from there.”

The Queen’s Library also recently received a high-quality scanner that will make the service better than ever.

“As part of the service we scan book chapters for faculty to be used in courses and we have a new scanner that was donated from the Campus Bookstore, which is amazing,” Mr. Swartz says. “The scans look almost identical to what you would see in a book.”

The new scanner also improves the accessibility of the materials for students with perceptual disabilities, Mr. Swartz points out, as the scans are more easily read by screen readers.

It’s an easy, accessible and quicker solution to providing course materials.

“We do it all basically in relation to course materials,” Mr. Swartz says. “Faculty just give us their syllabus and we take care of everything else.”