Traditional reserves are physical items placed on reserve in the library and made available for students to borrow. The items can either be owned by one of the Roger Williams University libraries or instructor-provided, as long as the item is legally acquired. The loan period for the physical reserves items are at the discretion of the instructor and are either 3 hours, 1 day or 7 days.
Physical reserve collections can include the following items:
Books
DVDs or VHS
Pamphlets
Annual Reports
Government Documents
Audiobooks
Textbooks (personal copies only)
Because of copyright restrictions, the following cannot be placed on reserve:
Commercially produced workbooks, tests, test booklets, or answer sheets
Course packs
Business cases
Electronic reserves are embedded in Bridges, and fair use rules will apply there as well. For more information, please refer to our Course Reserves and Copyright Policy on the library's website.
Interlibrary Loan (ILL) is a service that allows RWU patrons to borrow materials owned by other libraries. The RWU library acts as an intermediary, working to identify potential lenders of the item and arranging for its use by the requesting patron. ILL is intended to complement the well-balanced collection offered by the RWU library. First Sale Doctrine (Section 109) grants the library permission to borrow and lend "returnables."
When you submit a request for an ILL item, you accept responsibility for complying with Copyright Law. This means that you do not use the item obtained "for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research." If you do, you may be liable for copyright infringement.
