You may submit documents through our electronic Course Reserves system, in person at the Services Desk, or via email to cres@library.ucsb.edu.  The full bibliographic citation, legibly handwritten or typed, must be on the first page of any document that is drawn from a copyright-protected source.  Materials submitted without this information will not be processed. 

Instructor Provided Documents for Electronic Reserves

You can upload Word documents, Excel files, Powerpoint presentations, and pdfs. Once you upload the electronic files, Course Reserve staff will verify that the files are copyright compliant.

If you are uploading course documents, please choose the Syllabus, Lecture Notes, Exams format from the Add Reserve Items page:

Item Course Notes

You can title the uploaded item (i.e. syllabus) and include any other pertinent information:

You can add Tags to any item to let your students know which week materials will be used (for example, week 1, midterm, week 8, etc.). Click on Submit Item, and you will be taken to a new page to browse and upload your file. Once you upload your file, it will be reviewed by Course Reserves Staff before being made available to students.

We still accept materials in person at the Services Desk. Please make sure the materials conform to the following formats.

Electronic files

  • Electronic files (MS Word doc, PowerPoint ppt, Adobe pdf, etc.) may be submitted. The course number, instructor’s name, and course title should be included on the first page.
  • We can scan or convert all documents to Adobe (.pdf) files, and are capable of reproducing documents in color.
  • When converting MS PowerPoint (.ppt files) to Adobe (.pdf) files, the default number of slides displayed per page is four.

Clean Reprints

  • Clean reprints of documents should be in dark, contrasting print on loose leaf sheets (not stapled) of 8 ½ ” x 11” white paper. 
  • Our scanning operation does not support direct scanning from bound material such as books or journals. 
  • The full bibliographic citation must be clear and legible on the first page of all copyright protected documents. 

Handwritten or typed documents:

  • Handwritten or typed documents should have at least ¾” margins, and a title should be included on the first page of all original course-generated materials (e.g. Lecture Notes #4).

Unacceptable Formats for Electronic Course Reserves

Audio and Video Files

Main Library Reserves does not accept the following file formats for upload:

  • Audio Files: such as .wav, .mp3, .aac
  • Video Files: such as .mpeg, .avi, .mov, .mp4

Exceptions: Please contact Music Library Reserves for streaming reserves from audio recordings held in the UCSB Library. Compact discs, cassettes or vinyl records owned by the UCSB library can be digitized for electronic Course Reserves.