Reserve an Item

Definition and Purpose of Course Reserves

Course reserves are materials (including books, disks, A/V materials, journal articles and/or photocopies, electronic resources, instructional equipment, and non-book items) chosen by the faculty to support class instruction. Access to this material is more restricted than items in general circulation.

The purpose of a reserve collection is to:

  • Support the needs of a group of patrons - this group is usually a student group but may also be a special seminar or another unit within the Weill Cornell Medicine community.
  • Provide timely, convenient, and efficient access to high-demand materials
  • Protect materials that are at a high risk of theft or vandalism

Reserving a Hard Copy

  • Books: Entire books or multiple copies of a book may be placed on reserve. Individual students may make one copy of assigned chapter(s) for personal use.
    • If the library does not own an item, you may place your personal copy on reserve or recommend that the item be purchased for reserve use. Please let us know as early as possible if you are making a purchase request so that we can check availability and let you know if this will be possible.
  • Journals: One copy of a single journal article from a single issue will be put on reserve. Individual students may make one copy for personal use. A scan of the article can be made for electronic posting. An entire issue of a journal may be placed on physical reserve if more than one article from that journal is required.

Only small portions of copyrighted works (i.e. one article from a journal issue, one chapter of a book) may be copied and placed on reserve.

Reserving Online Material from WCM-Licensed Electronic Resources

  • Books: Direct links to chapters of online books may be reserved
    • Be advised that for some online books, we have a limited number of "copies" (i.e., seats or concurrent users.) If all online copies/seats of an online book that we own are in use, additional patrons will be unable to access that book until someone logs off or the system times out after (usually) 15 minutes due to inactivity. 
    • If the library does not own an item, you may recommend that the item be purchased for reserve use. Please let us know as early as possible if you are making a purchase request for an electronic resource so that we can check availability and let you know if this will be possible.
  • Journals: Links to articles, from journals the library subscribes to, may be reserved.

All electronic reserves are password protected. Instructors who wish to use an electronic reserve for a course must submit a list of students enrolled in the course, along with their email addresses.

Guidelines for Items Not Owned by WCM Library

Only works or materials which are public domain (protected under the legal doctrine of educational fair use), or for which you have received permission or are seeking permission from the copyright holder, may be used for reserve. A hard copy can be put on reserve and a scan may be made for electronic posting. Pending permission, items can be put on reserve for one semester only.

Copyright Restrictions

The Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S. Code) governs the creation of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material.

  • Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a copy or other reproduction. One of these specified conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be "used for any other purpose than private study, scholarship, or research." If a user makes a request for, or later uses a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of "fair use," that user may be liable for copyright infringement.
  • The institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copying order, if, in its judgment, fulfillment of the order would involve a violation of the copyright law.
  • The absence of a copyright notice does not necessarily indicate that material is not copyrighted. The law no longer requires such notice.
  • For more information, please refer to Copyright Resources at Weill Cornell.

Reserve an Easel


Easels may be reserved by registered Library users to advertise professional and educational activities in the 1300 York Avenue Lobby outside the Uris Auditorium. Easels may be reserved between 4 months and one week in advance here.

The Library only guarantees postings for 3 days before your event. If you would like your poster to be posted longer, we can try to negotiate additional space depending on the number of easels scheduled and those already posted. If we have intermittent functions scheduled, we may take a poster down for a few days and then repost it when we have available space. We allow no more than five easels in the lobby at one time.

Exceptions to this policy are made only for the Tri-Institutional Concert, which is regularly posted every Friday, and for announcements from the Dean's office.

Only official library easels may be used in the Lobby. All others will be removed.