Managing eReserves

About eReserves

The Administrator must enable eReserves before it is available to any users. Once eReserves is enabled, a course folder for each course will be created within this area. Follow the steps below to enable eReserves:

  1.  Select eReserves on the System Administrator Panel. The Manage eReserves page will appear.

  2. Select Yes on the Manage eReserves page.

What happens if eReserves is enabled after the Content Collection has been in use?

The Administrator may enable eReserves at any time; even after users have actively been using the Content Collection for some time. If eReserves is enabled after the Content Collection has been in use, course folders within eReserves will be generated the first time the Instructor, Teacher’s Assistant, or Course Builder accesses the Content Collection.

What happens if eReserves is disabled?

If the eReserves function is disabled by the Administrator, folders for new courses will not be created within eReserves. Existing content will not be removed from eReserve, but the eReserves area will no longer appear under the Library in the left-side navigation area. The Search and Go To Location features may be used to find content in eReserves.

If the eReserves function is re-enabled, course folders that had not appeared (while it was disabled) will appear the first time the Instructor, Teacher’s Assistant, or Course Builder accesses the Content Collection.

How are eReserve Course Folders created?

The Administrator can use the create-course-directory command line tool to create directories for courses in the Content Collection and corresponding folders in eReserves. This tool is especially helpful if the Administrator wishes to activate the eReserve folders in advance of the Instructor, Teacher’s Assistant, or Course Builder accessing the Content Collection. A sample use case for this would be to allow librarians to upload materials before a semester begins.

 

Note:  The course must already exist in the Blackboard Learning System before running this Command Line Tool.

 

The following is the syntax for this command

create-course-directory <course ID>

 

The following is an example of the syntax to create a course directory for history100

create-course-directory history100

Automatic folder creation by Instructors

If the Administrator does not generate the eReserve course directory by using the Command Line Tool, course folders within eReserves are automatically generated the first time the Instructor, Teaching Assistant or Course Builder accesses the Content Collection. At this point, all users enrolled in the course would be able to see the course folder in eReserves.

 

Note:  When the Instructor, Teacher’s Assistant, or Course Builder accesses the Content Collection, all courses where they hold these roles are generated in the /courses folder and in the /eReserves/courses folder simultaneously.