UC Berkeley Electronic and Accessible Reserves System (UC BEARS) is UC Berkeley Library’s basic controlled digital lending (CoDiLe) platform for e-reserves developed in-house and open source by UC Berkeley Library IT. It was inspired by the work done at the Caltech Library as they developed their CoDiLe platform. It has been used by the UC Berkeley Library since the fall 2021 semester to provide access to digitized versions of books for e-reserves.
Per CoDiLe’s website, “Controlled Digital Lending (CDL) is an emerging method that allows libraries to loan print books to digital patrons in a “lend like print” fashion. Through CDL, libraries use technical controls to ensure a consistent “owned-to-loaned” ratio, meaning the library circulates the exact number of copies of a specific title it owns, regardless of format, putting controls in place to prevent users from redistributing or copying the digitized version.”
We have created the following FAQ document for UC Berkeley Library staff to help address some of the common issues that might arise. Subject librarians, liaisons, and public services staff are highly recommended and encouraged to read this document thoroughly and familiarize themselves with the answers to better assist our patrons.
In UC BEARS,
- digitized Items will not be available for download or printing (in portion or entirety)
- digitized items are only available to users with a CalNet login
- print items for books made available through UC BEARS will not be available for UC Berkeley users or members of the public to use on site and are taken off the shelves and moved to a non-circulating, non-requestable location
- number of simultaneous online users is determined by the number of UCB-owned physical copies
- digital items can be checked out for 120 mins, and items are renewable at the end of the loan period
For course reserves, faculty members will be emailed direct links to the books that they have requested and have been digitized and made available via UC BEARS. If you have a faculty member who has questions about their course reserves request, please request them to contact ereserves@lists.berkeley.edu.
All items in UC BEARS are made available with the following copyright warning, “The copyright law of the United States (title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specific conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be “used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research.” The library has utilized technical measures to prevent any further copying, downloading, or distribution of this work. Use of this reproduction in violation of these terms could subject users to potential liability for copyright infringement.”