Library Services for Faculty: Collections & Copyright

Mohawk Library curates resources to support both students and faculty. New content and items are selected by Liaison Librarians, and in consultation with college stakeholders.

To submit a request, please fill out a purchase request form and our Librarian team will follow up promptly

Mohawk Library is working hard to provide alternative access to the print course reserves collection. A significant portion of the books on reserve are print copies of required textbooks, and students cannot access them without coming into the library. We are continually evaluating our approach to equity of access.

However, this work is hampered by textbook publishers who do not provide electronic purchasing options for libraries. Approximately 85% of existing course textbooks are simply unavailable to libraries in any other format than print. Textbook publishers have built their profit models around selling e-textbooks directly to students. Despite this, we also know that the cost of textbooks and other course materials represent a major financial hurdle to students. Certain publishers will not allow us to purchase an e-textbook version of their publications:

• Pearson
• Cengage
• Houghton
• McGraw Hill
• Oxford University Press Canada (Textbook Division)
• Elsevier Imprints (Elsevier Health Sciences, Mosby, Saunders)
• Thieme

This means that in courses that have adopted textbooks by these publishers, students who do not purchase the textbook will not have any alternative access to the textbook content. We are working with instructors to explore and identify viable textbook alternatives. Efforts will be made to secure online materials that are free from digital rights management restrictions (DRM) in order to ensure unfettered student access. DRM includes limits on the number of users that can access a resource at any one time, as well as limits on copying, printing and downloading. Please connect with your Liaison Librarian for more information

You can also find more information in the Collection Development Policy on our Library Policies page.

Mohawk College Faculty and Instructors may place copies of a text on reserve.  Course reserves are identified as heavily used or required course materials. 

Course reserves provide students with greater access to materials that support their learning objectives. These resources can be the property of the library or the instructor. The Library's Collection Development Policy states that required textbooks will not automatically be purchased by the Library. Our reserve collection is available to students at each of our three campuses and the loan period for these items is at the instructor's discretion.

For more information on library reserves, please contact your Liaison Librarian.

Reserves Request

The Mohawk College Library purchases books, ebooks, journals, magazines, videos and databases. 

In consultation with faculty, Liaison Librarians select resources for the collection. New high-quality content is acquired regularly. 

Library resources support learning outcomes, student success, and faculty research priorities. Among criteria used to make purchasing decisions, are relevance to curriculum, cost, and availability. Please note that the Library is unable to purchase textbooks.

If there's a book or video you'd like the Library to consider purchasing, please let us know via this form.

Purchase Requests

Requests for books and ebooks to be considered for the collection should be submitted to your Liaison Librarian by:

• July 31st for the fall semester
• Nov. 30th for the winter semester
• Mar 31st for the spring/summer semester

We cannot guarantee that books/ebooks purchased will be available in time for the semester in question as suppliers/publishers do not provide guaranteed delivery times.

Mohawk Library owns and licenses a wide variety of books, ebooks, articles, streaming videos and databases to support your courses. Library materials can be embedded and linked into MyCanvas. Please refer to our Linking & Embedding guide or connect with your Liaison Librarian for details.

Not finding what you need in our collections? Or have you found a great article but only the abstract is available? Perhaps you've found a book that we don't have but another college does have. We can help!

Interlibrary Loan is a free service made available to current Mohawk College students, faculty and staff. Library staff will request items from another library on your behalf and you will receive an email if we are able to source it.

Interlibrary Loan Request Form