Books and media, both from the Libraries' or instructors' personal collections, may be placed on reserve for circulation at any of the three Libraries.

Reserve items have shorter loan periods and higher overdue fines to facilitate students’ access to these high-demand materials. Items may be placed on reserve at the University, Science, or Dewey Libraries for a 3 hour or 2 day loan period, which is set by the course instructor. Overdue fines for reserve items are $1.50 per hour (or any part thereof) for 3 hour loans and $1.50 per day for 2 day loans, with a maximum fine of $45 per item. Faculty and staff receive 2 day loan periods for all reserve items. At the time of checkout, instructors may request longer loan periods (up to 2 weeks) for their reserve items to facilitate class preparation and in-class use of these materials.

To place items on traditional reserve in one of the University Libraries, faculty may:

• Bring items to either the University or Dewey Library and completed reserve request form. (University Library reserves staff complete processing for Science Library reserves also.) Do not check items out to yourself, but instead, bring items directly from the shelves to reserves staff.
• Mail personal items for reserve to the Library accompanied by a completed reserve request form.
• Request that reserves staff pull library items from the stacks by completing a reserve request form.

If you have difficulty locating a periodical, or if a book from the circulating collection appears to be missing, please contact reserves staff for assistance; reserves staff will make arrangements for holds, recalls, and searches.

Instructors' personal copy items are physically processed to identify them as reserve items. This includes applying plastic book covers and adhering labels to items. The Library does not assume responsibility for replacing worn, damaged or missing personal copies. If you are not prepared for this risk, please do not put your personal property on reserve.

Instructors are encouraged to refrain from placing high-priced textbooks on reserve.

Please provide complete citation information on reserve request forms. Incorrect citations will cause delays. Processing deadline guarantees are suspended while citations problems are being resolved. Please consult reserves staff for citation assistance if needed.

All traditional reserve requests must be submitted with a reserve request form. Use the Libraries’ online reserve request form, or download and print a reserve request form. You can also place requests for physical material via Electronic Reserves in Blackboard, which will create records of the items in your course.

The Libraries can place media on short loan periods (3 hour) but cannot guarantee that materials remain in the building at all times. Instructors may book reserve videos for in-class viewing. Please contact reserves staff (eres@albany.edu or 442-3569) to have reserve videos held for specific class sessions. When placing requests, please include the title, call number, course information, and the date that the video will be checked out from the library (instructors are encouraged to check out videos 2-3 days before the scheduled class viewing).

The University Libraries will make available particular software titles on one or more workstations (depending on license restrictions) as a function of reserve services. 

Reserve requests are processed in the order in which they are received. Reserve materials are accepted throughout the semester or session. To ensure that all items needed are on reserve by the beginning of the semester, we recommend submitting reserve request requests and all materials at least two weeks before the start of the semester. If the University Libraries must purchase an item requested for reserve, reserves staff will do its best to obtain materials as quickly as possible, but some materials may take weeks or months to obtain. Please note, the University Libraries will not purchase text books.