Limited capacity

The Courtright Memorial Library is currently open to Otterbein community members only. All Otterbein users must comply with the University Health Assessment policy and the Cardinal Community Responsibilities, including wearing masks at all times while in the building. Like most other Ohio businesses, we will be limiting our building capacity. Library staff will be counting the number of people in the building to ensure we don’t go overcapacity.

Seating changes, Limited seating

In order to encourage social distancing, we have partnered with Otterbein’s Environmental Health & Safety Officer (EHS) and ITS on campus to limit our desktop computer terminals and tabletop seating.

We ask that you not move/remove X’s on tables or signs that limit seating and that you only sit in seats that indicate they are available. The seats available are six feet apart, per the Cardinal Community Responsibilities.

Library staff will be limiting our direct face-to-face contact with patrons but that doesn’t mean we won’t be available to help you.

Our Reference/Research Help services will be completely virtual during Spring 2021. Services include virtual office hours, research consultations, chat, text, or email. Library staff will respond in that same format or set up an immediate Microsoft Teams or Blackboard Collaborate session to discuss your research needs. You can always Ask a Librarian for help.

Self-Check Out

At the self-checkout station, patrons will be able to scan their own Cardinal Card and items with a staff member ensuring the transaction go through, all from at least 6 feet away from other people.

How to Reach Us

Reference/Research Help

Text a Librarian: 614-259-7404
Email: library@otterbein.edu
Chat us from the library’s website

Circulation/Your Library Account
Call 614-823-1215 ext. 4
Email: circ@otterbein.edu

We know our students and faculty greatly depend on Course Reserve materials and this service is part of our continued commitment to textbook affordability and universal access. In Spring 2021, the loan period for all 2-hour course reserves (those already on reserve and incoming requests) will be temporarily changed from 2 hours to 1 day and all returned library materials will be quarantined for 3 days prior to processing and re-circulation (in accordance to results from the REALM report and Ohio library standards). Please continue to follow current public health standards and recommendations when engaging with library materials.

To increase opportunities for access to our Course Reserve collection, library staff will be accepting requests to digitize specific chapters or sections of textbooks in our Course Reserve collection (see more information in the Copyright During a Pandemic section below). Please note that due to the creative nature of these works we are unable to digitize novels and popular press. See the Course Reserve webpage for full information on this temporary process.

General Workflows

Library staff will continue to follow workflows developed during the Spring/Summer 2020 terms. Requests for electronic course reserves will be managed with little deviation from standard practice, including the following steps:

• Seeking out materials that are temporarily or freely available. This may include open access journals, subscription materials in the Libraries’ collections, or the HathiTrust Emergency Temporary Access Service program.
• Where necessary and as budgets allow, seeking to purchase or license materials.
• Rely on fair use (17 U.S. Code § 107) to make available through a password-protected system only as much of the material as necessary to support instructors’ pedagogical aims in a way that will not undermine the commercial market. Library staff may be more flexible on a case-by-case basis in evaluating fair use while physical reserves are inaccessible, taking into account factors such as limited access to the commercial market. We will also consider how fair use may receive a broader analysis during the pandemic, according to the Public Statement of Library Copyright Specialists.
• At the conclusion of the academic year, it will be necessary to undergo an evaluation of reserve materials to further assess adherence to copyright law; for instance, it may be necessary to make available a smaller portion of a book or journal issue to adhere to fair use.

Special cases: Textbooks

By relying on Sections 108 and 109 of U.S. Copyright Law, the Libraries have long provided access to print copies of textbooks that have been purchased or donated. By doing this, our collections offer an alternative or “backup” for students who may be on campus without a textbook or, in some cases, may not be able to afford to purchase a textbook. Typically, these materials are placed on physical reserve for short-term checkout.

• In consideration of the fair use exception to U.S. copyright law, limited portions of textbooks can be requested through e-reserves. This does not include consumable materials, such as workbooks or lab manuals. All copies will include a copyright notice.
• We recommend that students request only those portions necessary for their course of study.
• If the library owns copies in electronic format, we will not scan it but rather direct users to that library copy.
• Only books that are part of the library collection may be made available.
• Scans of texts are not meant to replace the purchase of materials.
• Access to electronic reserves will be limited to students currently enrolled in the relevant course, and all electronic reserves material digitized from print will be hosted on a secure, password-protected site.
  • The system we will use sets viewing limits to the requested content and requires password authentication.
• Copies will be made available for a limited time. On that happy day when the pandemic status ends and quarantine is lifted, all scanned files will be deleted and the special digital access program will cease.

Special cases: Novels & Popular Press Books

• For course required materials that are not textbooks (novels or popular press books), please check our catalog to see if we own an eBook copy.
• If we do not, we strongly recommend making use of our local public libraries to obtain these materials. Public libraries provide digital access to numerous novels and popular press titles via Overdrive or Hoopla. If you do not have a library card for either Westerville Public Library or Columbus Metropolitan Library, both libraries have applications online and will contact you within 48-72 hours with your library account number.

Special cases: Video

As in the case of textbooks, the Libraries have long made film and video collections available via VHS and currently through DVD. U.S. Copyright Law, in Section 110(1), explicitly allows for student viewing of film content in the face-to-face classroom, without any additional licensing cost to the instructor or institution and without requiring each student to rent or purchase the film.

With a rise in online and hybrid courses, instructors and students increasingly need to access film and video in a digital context, a need provided for in Section 107 and Section 110(2). Before and during the COVID crisis, the Libraries have leveraged our resources where feasible to license or purchase streaming media content; however, this option is frequently unavailable altogether or at a reasonable price relative to the Libraries’ materials budget.

Currently, the library is limited in how it can support video on reserve.

• a. Is this video already available on a streaming platform available at Otterbein? The Technical Services Coordinator and/or department liaison can check.
• b. If not, The Technical Services Coordinator will seek to identify a free or reasonably priced licensed copy of the item.
• c. Should a copy be unavailable, the Technical Services Coordinator will let the instructor know if the requested video has streaming access through a subscription service or pay per view.
• d. If a video is completely unavailable, the library liaison along with the Technical Services Coordinator will assist in looking for possible alternatives.
• e. If we do not own a copy, we strongly recommend making use of our local public libraries to obtain these materials. Public libraries provide digital access to numerous novels and popular press titles via Hoopla. If you do not have a library card for either Westerville Public Library or Columbus Metropolitan Library, both libraries have applications online and will contact you within 48-72 hours with your library account number.

As always, Library personnel will continue to assist instructors in understanding the legal use of online video content from YouTube or other sources.

Note: this document relies heavily on the work shared from the University of Florida Course Reserves page, accessed 7/20/2020

We are not accepting donations at this time. If you have any questions, contact our technical services department (LibTS@otterbein.edu).