Becker Library can help faculty, instructors and students with access to required or recommended classroom material. Here are some tips to answer frequently asked questions.
Search to see if the library already has the material:
- For print books and e-books, search the library catalog to see if we already have the material.
- Search for only e-books in our e-book search portal.
When the library owns a print copy of the book:
- Faculty and instructors can use the Course Reserves Request form to request the print copy of a title be put on our reserve shelf.
- Everyone can use the Suggestion for Purchase form to check with the library to see if an e-book is available.
When the library owns an e-book copy of the book, you can:
- Create copyright-compliant persistent links to the e-book following Becker Library’s Online Instruction Guidance (instructions in Recommended Practices for Creating Persistent Links).
When the library does not own the material:
- Allow enough time before the start of your class for the library to investigate the purchase of the material.
- Use the Suggestion for Purchase form to ask for the material.
- Be prepared to discover your preferred format may not be available. It is not always possible for the library to purchase an e-book. Some publishers do not sell e-book versions of their textbooks to libraries. In some cases, e-book costs are simply prohibitively excessive and a librarian will contact you and suggest that a print copy of the book be placed on reserve. Also, the library is not able to purchase single copies of Kindle e-books.