What's available on electronic reserve?
Electronic reserve provides web access to course-related readings and other materials selected by your instructor. These may include, but not limited to any of the following:
Journal articles
Book chapters
Course syllabi
Lecture notes and presentations
Practice exams and exercises
Electronic files -- PowerPoint slides, spreadsheets, audio/video clips, animations, etc.
The greatest use of "e-reserves" is for journal articles and book chapters; the same types of materials you would find most frequently through traditional library reserves collections. These materials are scanned and then converted to a Portable Document File (PDF) format, which requires that you have the Adobe Acrobat Reader installed as a plug-in for your web browser. Some of the files, especially those with graphical elements, can be large. With a faster modem you'll retrieve your documents sooner.
What kind of hardware and software will I need to view electronic reserve material?
The minimum and recommended hardware/software requirements for retrieving and viewing electronic reserve materials are as follows:
Hardware:
PC, 486 minimum, comparable Macintosh. Modem, 14.4K minimum, 28.8K or higher recommended modem speed is critical as each scanned page is, on average, 20KB (i.e., a 15 page article, depending on the amount of graphics is approximately 300K is size).
Software:
Netscape 3.0 or later (download), or Internet Explorer 3.0 or later (download). Adobe Acrobat Reader 3.0 (download). University dial-up networking or University VPN software. For more information about obtaining these free services or software link to the following website: http://www1.umn.edu/adcs/network/
Do I need a password to access electronic reserve?
Yes, when you enter the system you will be prompted to enter your University Internet ID (also referred to e-mail username) and password. This is the same information that you're required to enter for logging into library databases and numerous other systems on campus. If you don't know your Internet ID, look your name up in the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities Student / Staff Directory and look for the line "Internet ID." If you've forgotten your password or need other assistance with your password, contact the ADCS Technology Help line at (612) 626-4276.
If you haven't used your U of M Internet account yet...
Students are automatically given an email account when you register for a class at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities. Before an account can be used, it must be initiated. To do this, fill out the form at ADCS' Student Internet Account Initiation site at http://www1.umn.edu/adcs/. You will need to supply your Social Security Number, Student ID Number, and Date of Birth.
How do I access the materials for my course?
- Your instructor may provide a link from his or her course web page directly to the readings for your course (note: you will still need to login using your e-mail username and password);
Or
- You can access the home page for the system (http://intranet.law.umn.edu/) and work down through a series of menus either by course instructor or department name/course number until you get to your course. Once you get there, you can set a bookmark for it to avoid the need to "drill down" through these menus in the future.
Can I print and download files from electronic reserve?
Yes, the Adobe Acrobat Reader allows you to view, navigate, and print all or a portion of a PDF document and download all of a PDF document across all major computer platforms. Please note: we use image software scanning which gives us the best quality document but also makes the file size larger. In order to minimize downloading time and failures large documents are divided into smaller segments, which will need to be accessed separately.
To Print:
During the print command, you are asked whether you wish to print the complete document or wish to use the option of choosing the pages you want printed. This allows only the pages necessary for the users' research to be selected from the document. Within Adobe Reader, click on the printer icon to activate the print function. Options for either printing the entire document, or selected pages of documents, or the current page will appear.
To Download:
You may download e-reserve PDF files by first opening the document via the Adobe Acrobat Research through a web browser. Then use the "Save As" command from the File pull-down menu on the browser, which will prompt you to name and save the file. Make sure that you keep the .pdf extension as part of your file name. Remember, you will need to use Adobe Acrobat Reader to read or print a saved PDF file.
When I click on the e-reserve reading I want, my browser won't open the file. Why doesn't it work?
This indicates that the Adobe Acrobat Reader is probably not installed on your machine. You may download this software for free at www.adobe.com
When I use Acrobat Reader, I can barely read the document on the screen because the type is so small. Do I have to print the document in order to read it?
The Acrobat Reader allows you to view documents at various magnifications (from 12% to 800% of the original size).
To increase the magnification for onscreen viewing, click the little magnifying class with the plus sign (+) that appears on toolbar above the viewing window. Then move your cursor back onto the document. It should have turned from a hand into a magnifying glass. Now click on the document. It should be much bigger. Move the scroll bars on the right and bottom to see other parts of the page.
To return the document to its original size, select the magnifying glass and Control-click (Windows) or Option-click (Macintosh). This causes the document to "zoom out".
When I print from Acrobat Reader, some, or all of the pages come out in mirror image. How can this be fixed?
Select the "Print As Image" option in the Adobe Acrobat Reader print window.
Who can I contact for additional help?
Good Question. For help with your e-mail username and password, or for hardware and software questions, contact: ADCS Technology Help line: 612-626-4276
For all other questions about the electronic reserve system, contact: Daniel Matthews at 612-625-5262 or e-mail: matth036@umn.edu.
