Course Readings and Reserves Support

The Syllabus Service assists faculty and staff at the University of Toronto in making course readings available to students in a manner that respects Canadian copyright law and existing U of T licensing agreements and policies. Library staff will retrieve, scan, and provide links to material, as well as acquire eBooks suitable for course use whenever available. As part of this service, library staff will also work to acquire permission for uses of material that are not already covered by an existing license, and that are not in keeping with the University of Toronto's Fair Dealing Guidelines. 

To submit your syllabus

Email your syllabus with full citations (including pages numbers, if applicable) to syllabus.service@library.utoronto.ca as a Microsoft Word document, PDF, or rich text file. We also need:

  • The course name and course code
  • Your name and contact information
  • The start and end date of  your course 
  • The number of students in your course
  • What library you would like us to put print items in the course reserves collection
  • Which print items on your syllabus you’ve already scanned and which still need to be scanned

Read more about course reserves and syllabus services at other U of T libraries

Note for returning instructors: In your email, make sure that you indicate to our staff whether your course is one that has previously used the syllabus service. Our system saves information from past instances of courses and this information can be copied and updated to save time and ensure that readings are copyright compliant. Please also let us know if the course code has changed, and include a revised syllabus if necessary. 

Only need books on reserve? Email titles to syllabus.service@library.utoronto.ca and your item(s) will be directed to the appropriate library.

Assigning something for an exam? Let us know.

Priority Service Dates

We recommend that instructors submit your course reading lists by the following dates to ensure complete processing before the first day of class. Acquiring permissions from publisher can sometimes be a lengthy process. 

Instructors may continue to submit reading lists at any date.  Material will be processed on a first-come, first-served basis. 

Priority Service Dates  2018-2019:

  • Summer 2019 Session 1 (F & Y courses): April 15, 2019
  • Summer 2019 Session 2 (S courses): June 17th, 2019
  • Fall 2019: August 1, 2019

Copyright

We will contact you about any copyright concerns in your syllabus and negotiate copyright clearance for items that exceed our current licences and fair dealing guidelines at no cost to you.

If a resource cannot be made accessible, Library staff will contact you. 

When your syllabus is ready

Your readings will be available in Library Course Reserves as a single list of your assigned course materials, making it it easy for students to to access articles, ebooks, chapter/excerpts, web links, and media resources in one place. 

Accessing your assigned readings

The Library Course Reserves list for your course can be accessed by you and your students in two ways:

  1. Access in Quercus. Click on http://uoft.me/quercus-course-reserves and follow simple steps to add the Library Course Reserves app to your course side navigation bar.

  2. Logging into https://cr.library.utoronto.ca with your UTORID and selecting the course you want to view.

Using this method will allow you to create a direct link to share with your students: 

  • Select 'switch to student mode' 

  • Copy and paste the link you see in your browser window. This is a direct link to your course that you may circulate to students in any way you like: print syllabus, email, posting to a Learning Management Environment (i.e. Quercus or Pepper), etc. The link will work only for enrolled students and for a particular instance of a course.

Uploading material on your own? If requested, we will email you the PDF files of scanned journal articles or book chapters for you to post in Quercus or a similar password-protected course management system.

We will place print items in the course reserves collection of your preferred library for the duration of the course.  

Course Reserves and Syllabus Service at other U of T libraries

There are course reserves services specific to each campus:  UTM   UTSC

Not sure where to send your reading list? Email syllabus.service@library.utoronto.ca and we can redirect your list to the appropriate library

Libraries that offer this service:

Libraries at colleges and professional faculties are also ready to assist, where the course requirements are better supported by specialized library collections or local course reserve services. Please visit the individual websites of these colleges or faculties for contact details.

Syllabus Service Data Collection

Data from course outlines sent to the Syllabus Service will be used for the purposes of providing and improving University of Toronto Libraries’ services to its user groups. Access to this information is limited to staff at the University of Toronto who require this information to perform the duties of their position. This information will not be shared with third parties.