For Instructors

Instructor raising her arm in front of students in a classroom

Set Up Your Course

Use the instructions provided at the link below to connect Canvas and Ares, create a course, add items to course reserves, and more.

Instructors may submit requests for items to be added to their courses at any time. The Course Reserves unit will send out an email to all instructors with active courses notifying them when the units are accepting course reserves requests for the following semester. Requests may be placed throughout the current semester as needed. Requests are processed in the order received and may experience a delay if: (1) placed in the first 2 weeks before the start of a semester, (2) have incomplete bibliographic information, or (3) the item is unavailable. If the UF Libraries do not own a copy of the item needed for your course, please note this in your request.

Requesting Items for

Hard Copy Reserve

Physical books and media (DVD’s, CD’s, etc.) owned by the UF Libraries can be placed on Course Reserves for your course. If the library does not own the physical material, instructors can either (1) provide their own personal copy for temporary course use or (2) request for the item to be purchased for the library’s collection.

Instructors designate how long their course materials can be loaned to students and the default loan period is 2 hours, in library use only. Loan periods include 2 hours, 2 hour/overnight*, 24 hours, 3 days, or 7 days. Instructors may give permission for students to check out material longer than the originally designated loan period. If instructors have a DVD or other item on reserve and need it for in-class use, please contact the Course Reserves unit 24-48 hours before your class.

*This does not apply to libraries open 24 hours.

Requesting Items for

Electronic Reserve

The following items can be requested for Electronic Reserves:

  • ebooks (unlimited user access)
  • journal articles*
  • book chapters/excerpts**
  • streaming video
  • personally-generated material (power point presentations, class notes, etc.)
  • links to websites/resources outside UF

*A link to the full-text resource will be posted if available – we cannot post PDF’s of these materials. If no full-text resource is available, Course Reserves will consider purchasing the resource at the instructor’s request.

**Excerpts from books held by the UF Libraries can be scanned and placed on Electronic Reserves once evaluated for adherence to fair use guidelines. Instructors will be contacted by the Course Reserves staff for additional information.