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Ares Course Reserves: Instructor FAQs

A Guide to Ares - JIBC's electronic course reserve system

Instructor FAQs


What kinds of things can I put on reserve?

Books, Articles, Book Chapters, Internet Materials, and Audio-Visual Materials may be placed on reserve.  Instructors may supply items owned by the JIBC Library; personal copies of items not owned by the Library; or request that items be purchased* for reserves. 

*NOTE: Requests for items to be purchased for the Library collection and placed on reserve are reviewed by a Librarian. Please note that many factors are involved in purchasing an item for reserve such as availability, cost, and subject.  The Librarian will ultimately decide whether or not to purchase the item and the instructor will be notified regarding the decision and timetable for its availability. 


When can I submit my reserve requests?

By default, Ares Course Reserves will be accessible to faculty on the course clone date set in Colleague.  If you would like to submit requests prior to this date, you will need to change the course clone date in Colleague.  Contact your Blackboard Administrator if you do not have access.  We strongly urge that requests be submitted as early as possible to ensure that they are available to students for the class start date.


What usage statistics are available? 

Ares tracks the number of times a resource has been accessed. These stats give instructors insight into how their students are interacting with course materials.  

If a resource in Ares has low usage stats, consider highlighting it in your syllabus or mentioning it in class. Drawing your student's attention to specific materials can increase engagement. Another thing to consider is why a particular resource is being overlooked. Can it be switched out for something students are more interested in viewing? 

To check usage stats: 

  • Open your Blackboard course and navigate to Ares Course Readings
  • Under ‘Instructor Course Tools’, choose ‘Reserve Item Usage’

Note: Ares does not record which students opened individual materials or the length of time a student spends on a resource. Instead, the system records the total number of times a material was opened.


How long does it take for the item to be made available on Ares or at the Library?

Requests are processed in the order received. Physical reserves may take anywhere from 3 to 4 days if the item is owned by JIBC or up to 2-4 weeks if the items requested needs to be purchased.  Electronic reserves' turnaround time can be anywhere from 1 to 2 days.  Also, please keep in mind that delays may occur if the electronic reserves requests do not conform to our Copyright Guidlelines. We strongly urge that requests be submitted as early as possible to ensure that they are available to students for the class start date.


How can I place a physical item (book or DVD) on reserve at the Library?

Physical items that need to be checked out from the Library must be submitted via Ares Course Reserves. Only entire books or DVDs can be put on reserve. To put a book or DVD on reserve:

  • fill in the appropriate Add Reserve Item request form
  • ensure you specify the loan period that you would like (Library Use Only, 2 hours, 1 day, 3 days, or 7 days), and check "I will bring the material to the Library"
  • click "Submit Item"

Can I access reserves off campus? 

Yes. Reserves may be accessed anywhere in the world, from any computer workstation with internet access. Transmissions speeds may vary depending on your network connection. Note: some materials on reserve may be linked to JIBC Electronic Resources - available only to users on the JIBC network. In order to access reserve items linked to JIBC Electronic Resources, off-campus users must login to the JIBC network using the Library User ID & Password in order to view items linked to electronic resources. 


How much can I put on reserve and be within Fair Dealing?

You can copy or upload into Ares Course Reserves:

  • Book: 1 chapter or 10% of the book
  • Audio-visual material (i.e. video, sound recording): 10% of the work
  • Journal Article: an entire article (Linking to Library online resources or Internet resources, where possible, is preferred)
  • Visual Work (i.e. cartoon, chart, diagram, photograph, or other image): an entire work

For further information, see the Fair Dealing Guidelines.


How much can I put on Physical Reserve?

Any number of faculty personal copies and/or JIBC-owned materials may be placed on Physical Reserve at the Library (Photocopies are prohibited on physical reserve.)


How should I submit my requests?

Items must be submitted in Ares Course Reserves individually.  For instructions, see: Add Items to Your Course


I want Ares to be available to my students for the Blackboard course access date, not the Colleague course start date.

Students will have access to Ares for the course access date if the course access date (and/or extended dates) are set in Colleague before the course actually starts.  If the course start date has passed, you will need to contact the Library to make changes to the item availability dates.


When my Master course is cloned in Blackboard, will it also be cloned in Ares?

Yes. When a course is cloned in Blackboard, a new Ares class is created.  


Sometimes the Ares interface has lines across the screen.

This appears to be associated with Internet Explorer. Try using Firefox or another browser if possible.


Can I link to individual items in Ares from my Blackboard course content pages?

No, you cannot directly link to an item that is in Ares.  However you can create a pop-up link that opens a new window to your Ares readings.  Just embed the below code into your Dreamweaver page.  You can change the "Ares Course Reserves" text to the title of the article or resource.

<a alt=" Ares Course Reserves " target="_blank" href="/webapps/blackboard/content/launchLink.jsp?course_id=@X@course.pk_string@X@&tool_id=_2047_1&tool_type=TOOL&mode=cpview&mode=reset">Ares Course Reserves</a>