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5 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Course Reserves

Posted October 31, 2025 in JMU Libraries News

Faculty, you’ve heard of Course Reserves, right? That’s our service that lets you limit checkout times on high-demand books to 4 hours or 4 days, making it easier for your students to take turns using the same library book. 

But did you know that you can also…? 

  1. Ask us to purchase a book to put on Course Reserve: If your assigned text is not in JMU’s collection, you can contact reserves@jmu.edu to ask that the text be considered for purchase. (If the material is not for Course Reserves, please contact your department’s liaison librarian instead.) 
  1. Place your own copies on Course Reserve: Materials can be delivered to any JMU Libraries location or sent to us via campus mail. You’ll get the items back when the semester is over. 
  1. Choose the library where students can use the items: You can specify which of our 4 locations will be the pickup point. 
  1. Place non-book items on reserve: You can place almost anything on Course Reserve! Non-book items are considered on a case-by-case basis. 
  1. Ask us to digitize your assigned text: Upon request, we can digitize some items for students to use through Digital Course Reserves. 

Ready to get started? Use this form to shorten checkout times for library materials through Course Reserves. This is just one of 11 easy ways you can make textbooks more affordable for your students.