The Libraries can help instructors provide course materials to all enrolled students. Depending on availability and copyright considerations, materials may be made available to students in print or electronic formats. Please review the information below to learn about your options.
Course materials can be made available for your students in several ways:
- Print materials that are already part of the Libraries’ collection can be made available on short-term loan at various library locations across both campuses. These materials will be listed in the Course Reserves system in the Sofia Discovery Tool.
- E-books that are already part of the Libraries’ collection can be listed in the Course Reserves system. Alternatively, instructors often make these available through links on myCourses or in their course outlines.
- Chapters or articles from a print-only book or journal may often be scanned by library staff or by instructors and made available as a PDF to post in myCourses. When you send your request, library staff will check for copyright compliance. More information about copyright considerations for course readings, including how to report scanned readings is available here.
Electronic resources such as online articles and recordings, are typically made available by instructions through links on myCourses or in the course outline.
For materials not currently owned by the library:
- Instructors can request materials needed for courses via the appropriate request form below, or by contacting their Liaison Librarian. Staff will investigate the possibility of purchasing a print or electronic copy. You may also directly contact our Collection Services team by using the Purchase Request Form.
Please note: Many for-profit textbook publishers do not sell to libraries, so we are not able to obtain e-book versions from those publishers. For more information, we have a webpage on Commercial Textbooks Challenges.
Please select the appropriate library location and fill in the corresponding Course Reserves form.
Select a library location
Birks Reading Room, Education Curriculum Resources Centre, Humanities and Social Sciences Library
To request a scan of an article or chapter to post on MyCourses, click here.
To request that an item the McGill Libraries does not own be purchased and placed on course reserve, click here.
To request that items owned by the McGill Libraries be placed on course reserve, click here.
Deadlines
- Reserve requests must be submitted at least 3 weeks prior to the beginning of term for materials to be available for the first week of classes.
- Course reserve requests will be processed in order of receipt.
- A maximum of 15 titles per course will be accepted.
Questions?
For additional assistance, please contact hsslreserves.library [at] mcgill.ca (hsslreserves[dot]library[at]mcgill[dot]ca).
Islamic Studies Library
Course readings and course reserves request form »
Questions?
For additional assistance, please contact the library »
Macdonald Campus Library
Course readings and course reserves request form »
Reserve lists must be submitted at least 3 weeks prior to the beginning of term for materials to be available for the first week of class.
Materials not available in the collection will be ordered priority for reserve. At least 6 weeks notice is required.
Questions?
For additional assistance, please contact the library »
Marvin Duchow Music Library
Course readings and course reserves request form »
Making course materials available to students:
- Submit requests through the form above. Music Library staff will review requests to determine if we hold or can acquire electronic versions.
- Ebooks will be made available through a Course Reserves listing in the Sofia Discovery Tool.
- For electronic resources such as online articles and recordings, instructors usually make these available through links on myCourses or in the course outline.
- Note:
- The easiest way to ensure off-campus access to electronic resources is to link to the item in the Sofia Discovery catalogue; e.g. https://mcgill.on.worldcat.org/oclc/70513996 for Grove Music Online.
- If you provide a direct link to the resource, the proxy prefix must be included so that students are prompted to enter their McGill credentials; e.g. https://proxy.library.mcgill.ca/login?url=https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic (NOT https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic).
- For more guidance, see Creating links in myCourses.
- Note:
- When there are no electronic options, available physical materials indicated on your request form will be made accessible at the Library Service Desk via short-term (3-hr or 1-day) reserve loans and will appear in a Course Reserves listing.
- Scanning and uploading print materials to myCourses:
- See Add readings to myCourses (includes instructions for requesting permission to upload amounts that exceed the COPIBEC agreement allowances: report the readings on Savia and the Libraries will try to license the additional portions for you to post on myCourses)
- Either use the Libraries’ scan request service or create your own scans. Scroll down to the section entitled “Alternative: Creating a scan of your print course materials”
- If use of a printed course pack is necessary for your students’ in-class activities (score study and analysis, annotation of notated music, etc.), please music.library [at] mcgill.ca (subject: Winter%202023%20course%20materials) (consult with us) or coursepacks.ancillary [at] mcgill.ca (contact the Bookstore) to place your request.
Assistance with new acquisitions: Music Library staff will continue to fulfill purchase requests for course materials not available in McGill’s collection. We encourage you to music.library [at] mcgill.ca (contact us) as soon as possible so we can work to acquire the items.
Questions?
For additional assistance, please contact the library »
Nahum Gelber Law Library
Course readings and course reserves request form »
Questions?
For additional assistance, please contact the library »
Schulich Library of Physical Sciences, Life Sciences, and Engineering
2025 - 2026 Course Readings Request Form - Schulich Library »
- When possible, reserve lists should be submitted at least 3 weeks prior to the beginning of term for materials to be available for the first week of class.
- Materials not available in the collection will be ordered priority for reserve. At least 6 weeks notice is usually required.
Questions?
For additional assistance, please contact schulichloans.library [at] mcgill.ca (schulichloans[dot]library[at]mcgill[dot]ca).
Alternative: Creating a Scan of Your Print Course Materials Yourself
- General guidelines:
- Instructors may be able to scan portions of a book or an article we do not own online. For details, see the Guide on Adding Readings to MyCourses
- As required by our agreement with Copibec, scanned material must be reported on Savia
- Need help reporting your scans? Please contact copyright.library [at] mcgill.ca (copyright[dot]library[at]mcgill[dot]ca)
- We can also try to obtain print versions to be scanned for you and send you the links. Contact your Liaison Librarian or use the Purchase Request Form.
- Scanning print materials using your mobile device (IOS and Android):
- The OneDrive for Business app will allow you to create a multi-page scan of a print document using the camera of your mobile device. The resulting document is automatically saved as a pdf.
- Download and install the One Drive app to your mobile device
- Sign-in using your McGill username and password
- For more information, please see Microsoft’s instructions for using the app
- Need help? itsupport [at] mcgill.ca (contact ICS) for technical assistance
- The OneDrive for Business app will allow you to create a multi-page scan of a print document using the camera of your mobile device. The resulting document is automatically saved as a pdf.