Using Electronic Course Reserves and Media Management in WebPAC
Electronic Course Reserves is a family of products that enables a library to provide reserve material to patrons without placing a physical item on reserve.
If your library has acquired the Copyright and Access functionality in Media, you can attach electronic reserve material (magazine articles, musical scores, exams etc.) to bibliographic records. These digital objects can be files with any format (PDF, DOC, JPG, etc.) and can be either scanned or imported locally to the Innovative server or linked via a URL from an external server.
You then can use the Course Reserves function to place these bibliographic records, with the attached digital files, on reserve. You can limit access to these digital resources by suppressing the bibliographic records in such a way that the electronic reserve items are available only within the course reserves function in the WebPAC. Patrons can use the course reserves in the WebPAC to retrieve the digital items attached to specific courses.
Item Records Required for Course Reserves
The digital item does not require its own record, but in order to be put on reserve, a bibliographic record must have an attached item record. If you have no physical items to attach to the bibliographic record, you can create a "dummy" item record.
You can manage access to electronic course reserves materials by:
- Controlling access to articles with patron verification. To control which P TYPES have access to Electronic Course Reserves, contact Innovative.
- Controlling access to all documents attached to a course by using a course password.
- Creating charges for accessing and viewing electronic reserves.
E-Reserves Reports
You can use the E-Reserves Web Management Reports feature to view the statistical data about patron access to electronic reserve material.
Course Passwords
You can assign a password to restrict access to electronic course reserves. Typically, this restriction is used in the following scenarios:
- Your library can require patron verification to view electronic course reserves. A professor can further restrict access to the course readings by requiring an additional password.
- Your library can opt not to require patron verification to view electronic course reserves (so students who do not have a patron record can access materials). Your library can implement course passwords to restrict access to course reserves to only those students who have been given the course password for a particular course.
To set up course passwording, do the following:
- Set up a course password variable-length field. If your library does not currently use a course password variable-length field, submit a service commitment through CSDirect (super-user access required).
- Add the field tag used for the course password variable-length field to the Tag to use for course passwords in course records option in Admin Corner.
- Add the <--{coursepswd}--> token to the Course Reserves/Media Management Patron Authorization Form (pverify6_web.html) file.
- For each course record that uses course passwording, add a course password field to the appropriate record.