Create a New Course Reserve Record

You can create and save course records in advance, without linking any reserve items or instructors to them. Then, as a new term or semester begins, you can place items on reserve for the courses as the instructors provide lists of items already in the library collection, or provide actual materials.

To create a new course reserve record:

Note:
If you will use much of the same information for many course reserve records, use a course reserve record template as the basis for new records. See Create and use a course reserve template.

Tip:
Click to display the New dialog box, or press CTRL+N.

1. Select File > New from the Polaris Shortcut Bar.

The New dialog box appears.

Note:
You can also create a new record by selecting File > New from an open Course Reserve workform.

2. Select Course Reserve in the Objects box, and click OK.

The Instructors view of the Course Reserve workform appears.

3. If necessary, select a record owner in the Owner box.

The default is the branch where your workstation is located. Select another branch in the system, if appropriate.

4. Specify course information with one of the following methods:
   • Select from a list of courses - Select Tools > Display All Available Courses. The Available Courses dialog box appears. The available courses depend on which branch is designated in the Owner box. Select a course, and click OK. Course information from the course you selected fills the workform.
   • Select from pre-set options - Select the options from these lists: Name (required); Number; Section. When you select a name from the list, the Abbreviation field is automatically filled if an abbreviation has been set up for the course name. Different options may be available for different branches. The available options depend on which branch is designated in the Owner box.
   • Type the course information - Select Tools > Add New Course Information. The Add New Course Information dialog box appears. Type the course information in the appropriate fields, and click OK. The Add New Course Information dialog box closes, and the information you typed is added to the Course Reserve workform.

Note:
You must have the permission Course reserve records: Create, set in Polaris Administration, to use this method.

5. Select a course status in the Status box:
   • Select Active if you will be adding items for the current term or year. If the course reserve record is Active, patrons can search for it in the PAC.
   • Select Inactive if you are creating the record to use at another time. If the status is Inactive, the record is not available for PAC searches.
6. Select the appropriate options from the School/Division, Department, and Term/Year lists, if you want to set these options.

If you select a Term/Year option, the Start Date and End Date boxes are automatically filled in.

7. (Optional) Fill in the following fields:
   • Alternate Name - You can specify an alternate or common name for the course, and use the Find Tool to search for the course reserve record by this name.
   • Student count - Number of students in the course
   • Public Note - Type any free-text note in this box. This note is displayed in PAC search results for the course reserve record.
   • Non-public note - Type any free-text note in this box. This note is displayed for the course reserve record in the staff client only.

8. Select File > Save to save the record.

Note:
When you save the course reserve record, Polaris checks for duplicate records based on the combination of course name, course number, and section number for the owning branch. If there is a duplicate record, a message is displayed.

9. If you want to designate instructors for this course at this time, click the Add Instructor icon to display the Add Instructor dialog box. See Add instructors to a course reserve record.

 

10. If you want to place items on reserve for this course at this time, select View > Reserve Items or click  to display the Reserve Items view, and click the Add Items icon. See Place items on reserve from a course reserve record.

 

Related Information

• Deleting course reserve records - Open the existing course record and select File > Delete, or right-click the record in a Find Tool results list and select Delete from the context menu. You cannot delete a course reserve record that has reserved items linked to the record.
• Repeated courses - If the same course is taught every term, you can create a course reserve record for each term, and transfer the items from one course to the next at the end of the term. See Transfer a reserve item to a different course. Another method is to use a single course record, changing the Term/Year setting at the end of each term. When you change the Term/Year setting, the Start Dates and End Dates of all the reserved items for the course are automatically updated.

Note:
If a course is taught frequently, but not necessarily every term, you can set the course reserve status to Inactive at the end of the term. The status of the reserved items for the course automatically changes to Not Reserved. When the course is taught again, you can reactivate the course and the reserve items.