Bates Library provides a large online collection that is accessible to Bates students and faculty from off-campus.  This e-collection can be searched using either CBBcat or LibrarySearch+ in the same way one would search our print collection.

Targeted help for finding online course materials is available on each of the following:

• Arts
• Humanities
• Languages
• Sciences
• Social Sciences

Unfortunately, there is a very real possibility that we will not be able to provide electronic access to that material in its entirety. It is possible, however, to excerpt limited portions of texts to post on Lyceum, consistent with fair use. Your department’s AAA can help determine what portion of the desired print book can be reasonably posted in Lyceum for use in your course.   

It is possible that, for a variety of reasons, some or all of the material requested for electronic access will not be available.  In such cases, it may be necessary to use supplementary material or different material altogether.  Please contact your liaison librarian to discuss potential ebook options.

In previous years, the Library has purchased print copies of every book marked as “required” at the College Store and made them available via course reserves. In an online-only environment, the Library cannot ensure equivalent access. Many books are not for sale to libraries as ebooks–even if they are sold in electronic format to individuals (e.g. Kindle, Barnes and Noble’s Nook, etc.)  This is particularly true for books marketed as textbooks. Even if an ebook version is for sale, the cost to the library to license ebooks is vastly higher than the price of print copies. In the current environment, the Library cannot guarantee that we will have funds to purchase every required text as an ebook.

If at all possible, we recommend faculty assign materials already available to students online.  This includes an extensive collection of high quality, vetted material licensed by Bates College as well as a growing body of open educational resources. Please contact your liaison librarian for more information. See also “The book I want to assign for my course is at the Bates Library, but only in print. Can I have the entire book scanned for my course?”

For current information about the College Store’s plan for Fall textbook purchasing, see its FAQ for faculty.

We are committed to providing course reserves this fall semester, and will make them available electronically for all students. There will be no physical course reserves. Contact reserve-request@bates.edu with questions.

The easiest place for students to find course materials is via your course’s Lyceum page. Please see Curricular and Research Computing’s tutorials on Basic Set Up and Adding a Video. Consult a librarian to make sure any links to online library resources are proxied; this ensures they can be accessed off-campus with a Bates username and password. For any ebook available through the library, please also submit via our Reserves form so that it will appear in our Course Reserves system.

If you are planning to show video in your Winter course, it is important to provide a list of the materials you intend to use in Winter 2021 to Chris Schiff (cschiff@bates.edu) before leaving for the summer.  Requests received by Nov. 10, 2021 are strongly preferred, so that availability and licensing can be determined before the film is included in your syllabus and it will give us time to work with you if a title is not going to be available for your class. While we cannot guarantee online streaming for every requested title, your liaison librarian can help you identify alternatives that we can license for your course. 

Faculty are encouraged to use the streaming video resources to which Bates subscribes.   Films not available through these sources may not be available for online instruction.  For assistance with these resources, please contact the liaison librarian who supports your discipline.

As always, Bates Research Services librarians are dedicated to teaching research skills in whatever medium works best for your course. Options include:

• Synchronous sessions via Zoom. This could be one session or a series.
• Short (~5 minute) videos targeted at a specific skill.
• Curated library guides with resources and tips tailored to your research assignment.
• Scheduled one-on-one or small group consultations for every student in your class.

Outside of formal instruction, Research Services librarians remain available to you and your students for individual research consultations [link to Research Assistance below]. Even a brief introduction to the librarian for your discipline will help students understand and recognize the people available to help them. 

Research Services librarians are available to join synchronous classes for library instruction sessions. Your liaison librarian can help you determine what tools and methods are appropriate for the class topic or individual assignment and will work on the time allotted. 

In addition to our collection of ebooks and online journals, we will scan portions of print materials that clearly fall within the traditional “fair use” standard.

See the following instructions to access different types of content:

• Access to Physical Materials
• Access to Electronic Content
• Course Reserves

Research Services librarians are available to help you craft or alter assignments to suit the resources students can access online. Aligning learning goals and pedagogy with available electronic resources might require more time than you are accustomed to and ILS staff are prepared and excited to help you do this.

The librarians in Research Services will be available for help via chat and video. Reach out from the “Get Help” box on the library homepage or email your subject liaison for a one-on-one appointment. 

The most up-to-date information is on the ILL section of the Library COVID-19 Response page.