Reserve Collection
Textbooks, books and DVDs are added to the Reserve collection at the request of course co-ordinators and lecturers because they are likely to be in high demand by students. These high demand items are restricted to 2 hours (books) and 3 hours (DVDs) to make them accessible to as many students as possible. Items in the reserve collection can be booked online up to a week in advance.
Find out what Library items are linked to your course
To find out what Library items are associated with your course, search by the course code (e.g. BN505000), lecturer or course co-ordinator in Library Search | Ketu.
Here is the result for a book shelved in the Robertson Library Reserve collection (with copies in other locations as well).
Booking items in the reserve collection
1. Click on the book title to open the full record and access the booking/requesting options.
In the full record you’ll be able to see how many copies of the book are available and where they are located. In this case there are 3 copies in the reserve collection and they are all available.
2. To make a booking, click on Sign in.
Now select Polytechnic, if required, and click on Sign in again
3. Sign in with your student username and password (Moodle login).
4. Once signed in, you’ll be able to select Request and then Booking.
You can view the item’s existing bookings up to 7 days in advance.
5. To make the booking, you need to choose a day and then a start and end time (2 hours for books, 3 hours for DVDs), then Request.
6. Booking confirmation will appear on screen.
Cancel a Booking
1. Go to Library Search | Ketu and My account (the ID card icon at the top right)
2. Sign in and open your Requests
3. Find the booking and click the option to Cancel.
Renewing items in the Reserve collection
Items can be renewed online up to three times if no one else has placed a prior booking on them.
Distance learners and the reserve collection
If you are studying at a distance, you will not be able to come in to the Robertson Library to use the items in the Reserve collection and you will not be able to request them for home delivery either (this includes 3 Day Loan books too).
For this reason, if we have an item in the Reserve or 3 Day Loan collection, we should also have a copy in the Polytech Main collection that you can request for Home Delivery.
Alternatively, we may have a copy of the item available as an e-book so you can access it online.
Information for teaching staff
How to place items on Reserve:
- Please email reserve.library@otago.ac.nz about any items you need added to the reserve collection. Please identify yourself as Otago Polytechnic staff in the email; this is because the Library staff that will handle your requests also handle requests from University of Otago staff.
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Tell us the name of the course the items are for and the course code.
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Tell us how long you want these items to be held in the Reserve collection. Does the course run the full year, semester 1, semester 2, etc.? Items are returned to the Main collection when no longer required for a course.
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Tell us whether you want the items made available for two hour loan (these will be shelved in the reserve collection) or 3 Day Loan (these will be labelled 3-Day Loan but remain in the Main Polytechnic collection). DVDs (and other audiovisual material) requested to go ‘on Reserve’ will be assigned a 3 hour loan period.
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We can add department copies or personally owned copies of books to the Reserve collection, if necessary. The Library is not responsible for loss or damage to these copies. Where possible, the Library will purchase a copy for the collection rather than use a department / personally owned copy.
- Time-frame for processing Reserve collection requests: it can take up to three weeks to process requests; especially if we have to order the book for the Library as well.
