The Penn Libraries' Course Reserves Service allows instructors to set aside books, films, or sound recordings for class use, or to make articles or book excerpts available electronically through Canvas. Reserve lists typically include required and recommended course readings.
To ensure maximum availability, physical reserve materials are generally charged out by the hour or overnight. The main reserve collection at Penn is Van Pelt Reserve, located at the east end of the Circulation Desk on the 1st floor of the Van Pelt Library and shares the same hours of operation as the Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center. Reserve materials for undergraduate and graduate courses in the social sciences, humanities and engineering can generally be found here. In addition, each library on campus has a reserve section for materials in its collection. When books are placed on reserve in Van Pelt or in school and departmental libraries, reserve locations are listed in Franklin, the online catalog.
The Library provides access to reserve material electronically. Journal articles, book excerpts and other materials are scanned and made available through Canvas
Click here for information on locating reserve materials in the library.
Electronic reserves will be accessible through your Canvas course site under the "Penn Libraries Course Reserves" button.
this is the contact block.
To register your course for reserves please select the Course Reserves option when filling out your Canvas Site Request Form
If you are using Canvas you may use the "Penn Libraries Course Reserves" tool within your course site to place requests for reserve materials. This is where your students will be able access any materials placed on electronic reserves.
You may also place reserve requests for items held by the Penn Libraries by following the request links in Franklin or in PennText To place other materials on reserve, or if you have any questions, contact the reserves department at your library.
Please see Reserves - for faculty, Reserve request procedures for step by step instructions on placing course reserve requests.