Course Materials: Related Library Services

Course Material encourages the use of eBooks and eResources for course reading lists.  Many books already exist in eResource or eBook form. That is our first choice when receiving a request for a title to be in Course Material. Otherwise, we can scan any physical copy of a book, provided that Fondren Library owns the book, within the limitations of Copyright laws, to provide another option for accessing a book digitally.  All items are scanned in Optical Character Recognition (OCR) format which makes scanned items machine readable for the sight impaired.

• First, we request that you determine whether your course material can be met if we scan only 10% or less of a book.  This works well when there is only a chapter or two of interest. 
• If the required pages needed exceed 10% of the book for scanning, we scan the entire book in a process called Controlled Digital Lending. Widely used in academic libraries, CDL means that the book can be accessed online by your students for two hours at a time, just like a physical book on reserve.
• We will set aside the physical library copy of the item while the CDL copy is in use. This physical copy will not be available for checkout throughout the semester. 

We welcome suggestions for purchase of library materials. Suggestions will be reviewed by a librarian against several factors, including: appropriateness of the material for Fondren Library's collection, available funding, and origin of the suggestion. Please fill out the Suggest a Purchase form.

To inquire about streaming video options or to make a digitization request, please go to this webpage and fill out the indicated form to begin the inquiry process.  For more information, please contact your subject librarian or email teaching@rice.edu.

• Please allow at least four weeks to process your video. During the week before and the first three weeks of the semester, processing times can take over four weeks.
• If permissions are granted, only a copy that was lawfully made and is owned by the course instructor or by Fondren Library can be considered for digitization.
• Fondren Library media can be requested for a longer-than-standard checkout period at the Service Desk or can be renewed online while we digitize the media.
• InterLibrary Loan or rental materials cannot be digitized, neither in full nor clips.
• Format: Blu-ray, DVD, or VHS tape
• Unless otherwise specified, the main video with original-language audio and without subtitles will be digitized

Many Streaming Video Resources are available from Fondren Library. Links to the streaming videos can easily be placed within your Canvas course for student access. For more information, please go to Rice University OIT Video Streaming.