The Alverno College Library offers an electronic reserves service. Instructors may request that print materials of 30 pages or less be scanned and made available in PDF format directly from TOPCAT, the library's on-line catalog. PDF stands for Portable Document Format and is a type of image file.

Students can access the Reserve materials in PDF format from the Reserve List on TOPCAT. In order to view or print documents from the electronic reserves collection students will be required to enter their Name and Library Barcode Number . Electronic reserves are available from any networked personal computer in the Library or Computer Center. Students with personal computers and Internet access will also be able to access electronic reserves from home. Adobe Acrobat Reader is required to access the reserve documents in PDF format. Adobe Acrobat Reader may be downloaded for free via the Internet.

Suggested types of documents that are appropriate for the electronic reserves collection:

• One article from a journal issue
• One chapter from a book
• Sample lab reports
• Sample assessments, tests, quizzes
• Sample field logs
• Sample research papers
• Business plans
• Lecture notes

Copyright and Reserves provides copyright guidelines for print and electronic reserves material.

The following procedure should be followed when placing materials on electronic reserve :

1. Fill out a yellow Reserve card specifying the title, instructor, estimated number of students, course name and number.
   
2. Under Format: go to the blank labeled Other: and write "electronic".
   
3. Materials to be placed on electronic reserve should be delivered to the Library's Circulation/Reserves Desk in loose-leaf form. In other words book and journal excerpts will need to be photocopied before they can be submitted to go on reserve.
   

The library will keep one copy of the document to be placed on reserve in print format as a back-up copy in case TOPCAT or our network connection goes down.

For more information about course reserves, see the library's Course Reserves Guidelines.

Any questions or concerns relating to electronic reserves should be addressed to Charles Elftmann, 414-382-6193, Charles.Elftmann@alverno.edu.