Academic libraries struggle with managing print course reserves and making them easily accessible to students, while also attempting to streamline their service desk operations. At a state university system regional center, the library provides academic support to students from nine institutions that offer graduate and undergraduate studies at the center, which includes course reserves for all programs.

The library has initiated a pilot that provides open and easy access to course reserves. This pilot is an effort to improve services to students and faculty following the merger of our circulation and reference desks. When additional consideration was given to improving transactions that occur daily at the service desk, we arrived at the conclusion to make the “Reserves UNreserved.”

The pilot is a transition from a traditional check out process to an open self-service, on site use, with no time limit restrictions.

How can libraries best manage their course reserve collections, while making them easily accessible to students without hindering their service desk operations? Explore how to overcome this challenges as we discuss the preliminary results of a pilot project that moved course reserves from behind the barrier of a desk to an area in open stacks.