The Libraries can help with your course reserves, we can provide support in assignment design, and offer online tutorials and lessons related to research, writing, and citations, like the Library Information Tutorial, tutorials related to the integrated literacies (research, reading, and writing/editing), and citations.

Additionally, as faculty prepare for spring quarter, please know that the Libraries offers a range of resources and services to support teaching face-to-face and online, including the Integrated Academic Literacies Workshop Series. If you decide to request one of our workshops, for the first few weeks of the quarter while classes are occurring online, we will schedule workshop sessions to occur synchronously via Zoom. For more information about our Integrated Academic Literacies Workshops, please send an email to LearningCommons@wwu.edu. For help with discipline-specific research or course materials, please contact the appropriate subject team.

If you need help setting up your online course, designing an online course, or changing the modalities of a course, please contact ATUS/CIAA for more in-depth assistance.

There can be some difficulties in providing and accessing some resources online as not all materials can be streamed due to license or other complexities.

General information on Western Libraries' Media Guidelines include information related to purchasing streaming materials. Information on how faculty can request that the library purchase a license for streaming video is also available in the Media Guidelines, use this form to request the purchase of a streaming license.

If you have shown DVDs in class and want to know if they are available via streaming video, you can search Just.Watch.com to see if a video is available streaming, on what platform it’s available, and if it’s free or if there is a cost. In general, converting DVDs to streaming is not possible due to licensing, but there can be exceptions in some cases. Contact the Media Librarian, Jeff Purdue, for help.

Heritage Resources is exploring creative ways to use online technology to maintain support for teaching, learning and research needs. We are developing training videos on the use of the MABEL platform and strategies for doing primary source research online. We look forward to working with faculty and students to further develop digital content in support of their curricular goals. Contact Heritage.Resources@wwu.edu or call (360) 650-7534 with questions or for more information.

Course Reserves 

The Libraries will continue to support course reserves as much as possible, though due to increased demand the processing time may be longer than usual. Additionally, we are unable to scan physical materials for course reserve until the statewide stay-at-home order has been lifted. Faculty should submit reserve requests as soon as possible. Electronic reserves should become available in the order in which requests are received.

Please note that copyright law applies to all course reserve materials. If you want to learn more about making course materials available online, please review the Teaching Remotely: Copyright guide available via the Libraries’ website. If you need help identifying online materials to support your syllabus for spring, please reach out to your subject team for additional support.

Canvas

If the item you wish to use is available online, you can link out to it from Canvas. You may wish to utilize diligent link-checking, particularly when your students will be needing to use it, to ensure that the item doesn’t disappear.

If the item is something that is part of the Western Libraries collection, it is possible to use the item in Canvas with little restrictions. It is better to link directly to the item, using the EZ Proxy prefix (EBSCO databases do not require it, use the direct link provided) before the URL of the item you wish to link to: http://ezproxy.library.wwu.edu/login?url=

For example, linking to the article “Globalizations are plural” in International Sociology found at http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0268580900015002001 would look like this: http://ezproxy.library.wwu.edu/login?url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0268580900015002001

If you are needing to scan materials you have on hand to use, start with the first chapter as a way to prepare for the beginning of the quarter. This will fall within Fair Use (see below). Beyond that first chapter, the fair use exemption may be possible to utilize--instructors will need to use the Fair Use Checklist to determine that. Feel free to reach out to the Copyright Librarian for assistance with using the Checklist. Check out the Western Libraries Copyright page for more information: https://library.wwu.edu/use/copyright/copyright-faqs

Fair Use

The Fair Use exemption considers certain uses of copyright works to be fair uses – that is, to not be copyright infringement. Fair use applies to “purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research” (17 U.S.C. § 107).

Fair use determinations must be made for each intended use and are dependent on a balance of the Four Factors of Fair Use. These are:

1. Purpose or character of the use

2. The nature of the copyrighted Work

3. The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole

4. The effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work

Tools like the Fair Use Checklist, a roadmap that can help you understand the individual factors and how different uses favor or oppose fair use, the Fair Use Evaluator, which provides the opportunity to describe the use and provide context, and the Codes of Best Practices in Fair Use, which put forth standards of fair use within a discipline, are available to help with fair use determinations.

The TEACH Act?

It is not copyright infringement for teachers and students at nonprofit education institutions (such as Western) to transmit performances (music, movies, etc.) and displays (image, text, etc.) of copyrighted works as a part of a course if certain conditions are met. Further information can be found in the TEACH Act Toolkit. Feel free to reach out to the Copyright Librarian for assistance with using the TEACH Act.

Open Education Resources

Open Educational Resources (OER) are teaching materials that are openly licensed with a Creative Commons license or materials that already exist in the public domain. Open educational resources are free to students and faculty and do not infringe on copyright laws. That means if you find an OER textbook you want to use, you can attach the whole thing to your CANVAS site without worrying about copyright!

Most OER are digital resources that can be found in a variety of websites online. Check out WWU’s Teaching Handbook “finding” page for places to search for OER. OER are typically organized by subject and by kind of material (digital textbook, journal article, data set, etc.). If you want to get started looking for OER textbooks, we recommend looking at OpenStax or the University of Minnesota’s Open Textbook Library.

Feel free to reach out to the Scholarly Communications Librarian or the Center for Instructional Innovation and Assessment for assistance.

As of Tuesday, July 21, 2020, Western Washington University students, staff, and faculty will be able to place online requests for items from the library collections. These items will later be available for curbside on-site pickup, or they can be mailed directly to you. Only materials from Western Libraries circulating collection may be requested at this time. Music Library materials and Summit or ILL services are not yet available. (For questions about access to materials in the Music Library, patrons should contact Marian.Ritter@wwu.edu.)

Requests for materials must be submitted online via the OneSearch catalog on the Libraries’ website. for more information and instructions about requesting materials for on-site pickup or mail, please see: Requesting Materials for On-site Pickup and Mailing.

Western Libraries buildings will remain closed to the public through the summer quarter and likely into the intersession preceding fall quarter. We are also extending the due date for all materials currently checked out to September 23. All materials will be loaned to you via mail or on-site pickup will not be due until at least September 23, 2020.

When the Libraries is open, we will accept payments at the Circulation Desk. In the meantime, please consider paying fines and fees online. Please note that the due date for all materials currently checked out to patrons has been extended to September 23, 2020.

Western Libraries, Music Library, Summit, and ILL materials originally due between February 18 and September 22 are now due September 23.  If you have materials you would like to return, they can be returned to the book drop under the skybridge near the Haggard Hall entrance to the Libraries. In order to ensure the safety of our staff, these materials will not be checked in until staff are approved to begin limited work in the buildings.

Please contact Classroom Services at 360-650-3300 or classroomservices.forms@wwu.edu with questions about due dates for materials checked out from their Haggard 114 loan desk or the Student Technology Center. Please do not return any equipment items in the book drop. If you have questions about a specific loan, contact the Circulation Desk at library.circulation@wwu.edu.

The due date for all materials currently checked out to patrons has been extended to September 23, 2020. Please contact Classroom Services at 360-650-3300 or classroomservices.forms@wwu.edu with questions about due dates for materials checked out from their Haggard 114 loan desk or the Student Technology Center. Please do not return any equipment items in the book drop. If you have questions about a specific loan, contact the Circulation Desk at library.circulation@wwu.edu.

At this time it is still not possible to loan physical items from interlibrary loan and the Orbis Cascade Alliance. The Alliance has suspended Summit borrowing until further notice. The due date for all materials checked out to patrons will be extended to September 23, 2020. Users may still request articles or other electronic items through interlibrary loan, and all the Libraries’ electronic collections continue to be available.

Document Delivery will be suspended until further notice. Please note that the due date for all materials checked out to patrons will be extended to September 23, 2020, (except for items already due after that date).

The Libraries will continue to support course reserves as much as possible. Faculty should submit reserve requests as soon as possible. If you need access to specific resources or materials at this time, or if you have already identified resources you may need in the fall, please reach out to us. While we may not be able to offer you physical access, we will do everything possible to find alternative methods to meet your needs. We want to support you and help find solutions to your needs, even if we are not able to do that in person at this time.

For example, for faculty members wondering about materials, services, and resources you need to support courses you are planning, please reach out to your Subject Team(s). They are eager to help, and can explore and identify options to help meet your needs, whether courses are in person or online.

Due to increased demand, course reserve processing times may be longer than usual. Additionally, we are unable to scan physical materials for course reserves at this time. However, please submit your requests and electronic reserves should become available in the order in which requests are received. Library personnel look forward to expanding services when it is safe to do so, and once protocols to ensure reasonable and safe processes for managing access to physical items are in place.

Please note that copyright law applies to all course reserve materials. If you want to learn more about making course materials available online, please review the Teaching Remotely: Copyright guide available via the Libraries’ website. If you need help identifying online materials to support your syllabus for summer or fall quarter, please reach out to your subject team for additional support.

Yes! For the near future, the Libraries will purchase online copies of books and media already owned in physical form, if they meet other standard purchase criteria and are financially feasible. If you have questions about placing a purchase request, please contact Jesse Thomas, Resource Access Manager (jesse.thomas@wwu.edu) or reach out to your subject team

Heritage Resources staff remain available to assist with research inquiries over the phone and through email. Select digitized content is available through the MABEL platform and additional material may be provided remotely. Unfortunately we are not able to provide physical access to collection materials at this time. Contact Heritage.Resources@wwu.edu or call (360) 650-7534 for more information or to submit inquiries.