Course reserves are a great way to help students access the materials being taught in courses without additional financial burden, especially those that may be hard to find. Items on reserve can be accessed by the whole class, and are available for short-term checkout. The library can provide access to a variety of materials including books, ebooks, scores, DVDs, streaming film and more (guidelines and policies for course reserves).

Electronic or physical materials (from the Libraries' collection or personal/departmental materials) may be placed on reserve at any of our campus library locations. We encourage educators to opt for electronic course reserves, which have the following advantages: 

  • Access, without interruption, for the whole class 
    We check the number of licenses that the library currently has access to and compare that to the number of students enrolled in your course to make sure we have an acceptable amount. If more licenses are needed, we’ll try to purchase more without you having to ask. 

    Publishers update and change access data constantly and an item URL that you provide for your students to use may no longer be valid. Course reserve regularly receives information about these changes and updates item data for materials on course reserves when affected. By putting an item on course reserve, your students will always have access to the correct location. 

  • All library materials on reserve accessible from one place 
    All materials available from the library will be listed under the course in the library catalog, making access easier for students to find and access the materials. 


Students: Accessing Course Reserves

Find Current Course Reserves

Check out physical course reserve materials at the service desk of the library where the item is being held.  Electronic course reserves materials will be directly linked in the item record. Locate and access current course materials searching by instructor name or course listing using the button above. 

Educators: Placing materials on course reserve

Please complete our request form, below, with as much information as you can in order to help us fulfill your request. When prompted to login to Microsoft Office 365, please do so using your identikey username @colorado.edu address (the first.last @ colorado.edu address will not allow you to log in).

Course Reserve Request Form

Educators may opt to request materials for purchase through the course reserves form as well.

Please submit your requests as soon as possible, as it can take several weeks for items to be purchased or scanned. Thank you for understanding that the high volume of requests and limited staffing may increase turnaround times. Contact reserves@colorado.edu with questions.