You can add items directly to your Ares course. Adding items to Ares yourself gives you the ability to add tags, upload your own PDFs, or request the library to find or create PDFs of materials.
Approval Period
Depending on the type of material you add to Ares, it will either be available to students right away or it may go through an approval process. The approval process allows the library to ensure all materials follow Canadian Copyright Law and JIBC Copyright Policies.
Detailed instructions for adding reserve items are on this page. For all other actions, please review the PDF document below.
Ares supports various file formats and material types. Library staff may source alternative formats if the item you have added does not comply with copyright guidelines.
The most common change library staff will make is replacing a PDF upload with a link to a resource. This may happen because of a copyright concern over the source of the PDF; linking does not constitute copying, which makes it a safer alternative for sharing course readings.
For materials that come from library databases, linking provides additional metrics to the library about how often a resource is accessed. Linking can also allow us to provide access to more material (for example, an entire book instead of a chapter) than would be allowed with a PDF due to fair dealing and licensing restrictions. For more information about linking check out the Copyright Guide - Digital or contact the Copyright Librarian.
Finally, linking to a source improves accessibility for users. Library databases have accessibility features built in, and most websites are designed for digital accessibility and assistive technology like screen readers. PDFs are almost always inaccessible unless purposefully designed to be screen readable.
Note that we will always communicate changes to your materials and explain why this change is being made.
We distinguish between three types of materials that are commonly added to Ares: readings, references, and recommended resources. To ensure students are able to use Ares for access to course readings and to reduce the load of materials in the system, please ensure only appropriate materials are added to Ares. Library staff may reach out if there is a concern over the type of materials being added to Ares.
Readings refers to any material which is required reading for the course or which is otherwise important for students to read and access within the time frame of the course. Readings should be tagged with the module, week, or topic to which they relate.
Readings should be added to Ares.
References refers to any material which is used to create the content of the course, but which students are not required to read or access for their own understanding of the topic.
References should not be added to Ares; they can be linked directly within course content or listed in a separate document (preferably in APA format).
Recommended resources refers to any material which is considered optional reading for students during the time frame of the course.
Recommended resources may be added to Ares if the number of required readings is not extensive, at the discretion of library staff; in this case, recommended resources should be tagged as such in Ares.
Follow the instructions below to add a reserve item to Ares.
Instructions also available in PDF in the Add, Edit, Clone, Remove Items in Ares document.
