e-Reserve service

e-Reserve team will source and scan documents, such as chapters from books, journal articles, and artistic works, and add them to e-Reserve collection.

Add resources to e-Reserve collection

For material copied under RMIT's educational licence with the Copyright Agency.

The e-Reserve team can help you make course-related readings available online to your students. We will:

  • Source material to be scanned from our Library’s collection or other libraries within Australia.
  • Scan chapters from books, journal articles and artistic works.
  • Ensure copyright compliance and add the compulsory copyright notice to scanned documents.
  • Add these documents to the Library’s e-Reserve collection.

Send the material using an online form or by email.

Register artistic works used in online teaching

If you are using images/figures/diagrams sourced from books or the Internet for online teaching, you must register each work with the RMIT’s e-Reserve. Only Creative Commons (CC), or images with open licenses do not need to be registered.

If you have adapted an image from a book or the web, you must get permission from the copyright holder. Contact permissions@rmit.edu.au for help.

To register multiple works, download the spreadsheet, fill it out and email it together with copies of the image files or your PowerPoint lecture to eReserve.library@rmit.edu.au.

Linking to e-Reserve documents

To link an e-Reserve document from your course in Canvas, you will need to copy its permanent link from the LibrarySearch, create a reference for the document and add the permanent link.

Step 1: Log in to LibrarySearch and search for the e-Reserve item you want to link to. It will have 'e-Reserve' next to the title.

Step 2: Select the Permalink icon located to the right of the item details, then copy the link provided.

Look for a 'Link for...' button under the  'Actions for...' menu. Link location to an e-Reserve record in LibrarySearch.

Tip: You can also view the document and then use the direct link to the viewer. It will look something like this: https://rmit.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/delivery/61RMIT_INST:RMITU/12173364750001341

Step 3: Create a reference for the document in your Canvas course. Information on referencing the material you use is available in the Copyright guide

Step 4: Using the permalink you've copied, hyperlink the title of the document. Do not hyperlink the URL, this will make it harder for some students with disabilities to access the document. Here is an example of a e-Reserve document using standard attribution/referencing:

‘Literacies to think and to learn’, in Kalantzis, M.,Cope, B., Chan, E., and Dalley-Trim, L.. Literacies. Second ed. Port Melbourne, VIC, Australia: Cambridge University Press, 2016. pp. 446-465. https://rmit.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/61RMIT_INST/1adn3cm/alma9921672296001341

e-Reserve advice and FAQs

All third party copyright works (e.g. book chapters, articles or images) to be copied and used online under RMIT’s educational licence with the Copyright Agency must be added to the e-Reserve collection.

You can link to the material from your online teaching platform such as Canvas.

If you wish to host material in your online teaching platform, you will need permission from the copyright holder.

Exclusions

  • Where permission to use a work in your teaching platform has been granted.
  • Material for which RMIT owns the copyright.
  • Works with a Creative Commons licence.

Library e-resources such as library databases, e-books and e-journals can be linked to from your teaching platform. Please note that each licensed database is covered by specific terms of use.

Copyright works to be placed on e-Reserve must comply with the limits of the Educational Statutory Licence in accordance with section 113P of the Copyright Act 1968 (Act).

The following material can be scanned and placed on e-Reserve:

Hard copy print material

  • One chapter or 10% of the total number of pages in a publication.
  • One journal article or more from a journal issue if they relate to the same subject matter. Note where the Library has a licensed subscription to the journal, we will notify you if you can link directly to the journal article or full-text database.
  • Artistic works that accompany or explain text copied (such as diagrams or figures), or has not been separately published.
  • The whole of a literary or dramatic work published in an anthology, such as a poem or play, if that work comprises no more than 15 pages of the anthology.

Electronic material

Where the Library has a licensed subscription to the journal, you will need to link to the journal article in a database.

  • 10% of the number of words of an electronic work, if the work is divided into chapters, one chapter.
  • All of an artistic work.
  • 10% of a music work/score.
  • One journal article or more if they relate to the same subject matter. Where the Library has a licensed subscription to the journal, you will need to link to the journal article in a database.
  • The whole of a literary or dramatic work published in a paginated anthology (PDF or Word), such as a poem or play, if that work comprises no more than 15 pages of the anthology.

Placing items on e-Reserve ensures that RMIT does not unknowingly breach the Copyright Act, and that we effectively record what copyrighted works we make available online to students. RMIT and its staff must adhere to the limits and regulations of the Licence Scheme. During the Copyright Agency sampling period, the University must record all works communicated to students, which would be extremely difficult to do without a centralised system like e-Reserve.

The benefits of the e-Reserve include:

  • You can link directly from your course to the online document in e-Reserve.
  • You can offer your students easy access to resources, 24 hours a day.
  • You can make use of the same resources in courses developed for offshore delivery. For instance, if your online course is to be redeveloped for delivery offshore, links to library resources will not need to change. Students will be able to access those resources via RMIT authentication.
  • e-Reserve Services staff will source and scan copyright-compliant documents on your behalf.

On average, it takes us 3 to 5 working days to process your request. Once your request is received, it will be placed in a priority order.

  • Scanned documents you provide to us will be processed within 3-5 working days.
  • Works available from the Library collection will be processed within 5 working days.
  • The more accurate the details you provide, the faster we can process your request.

Please allow extra time for busy periods at the start of semester.

Once the requested document is active, the e-Reserve service will email you a URL that you can use to link to the document from Canvas or other course platform.

Only staff and students of RMIT University can access the e-Reserve documents. Authentication is required to access eReserve content - once per browser session. After logging in, a compulsory copyright warning notice will display as the first page of the document.

e-Reserve material is available in a Portable Document Format (PDF) by following a link from the LibrarySearch record, or your online course.

Remote access is available to:

  • students off-campus
  • offshore students
  • students at RMIT University Vietnam.

Students and staff can use LibrarySearch to find e-Reserve documents.

No, you can host PowerPoint or lecture notes in Canvas, provided RMIT owns the copyright or you have permission from the creator for that material. If you are using images, figures or diagrams sourced from books or the Internet, you must register each work in e-Reserve.

Yes, you can send us scanned documents. 

We reserve the right to re-scan or tidy up low quality documents to ensure copies provided to students are legible.

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Acknowledgement of Country

RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business - Artwork 'Luwaytini' by Mark Cleaver, Palawa.