Penn State University Libraries - Link to Your Reserves List in Your ANGEL Coursepage

Note: Both faculty and students must be registered with the University Libraries to access Course Reserves.

To create the Course Reserves link:

1. Place your course readings and materials on reserve with the Library. (Note: at least one book or reading must be on reserve for your class before you can activate the link in ANGEL.)
2. Activate your course page in ANGEL.
3. Activate the Course Reserves link:
   1. In the ANGEL course page, click on the Resources tab.
   2. Under Penn State Library Tools, click on Library Reserves.
   3. Click on Activate to create the link.
   4. Click on Preview Activated Link to confirm that the link is functioning.
4. Repeat this process for each section of any course with multiple sections.

You will only need to activate your reserves link once each semester. Reserves added to your list after you have activated your ANGEL reserves link will automatically be available through the ANGEL link after processing is complete.

Note: Due to routine maintenance, the Libraries system (including Course Reserves) is unavailable each night from 2:00 AM until approximately 4:30 AM EST. If you are unable to access your reserves materials during this period, please try again at a different time. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Problem: When you click on Preview Activated Link, a page opens with either of the following error messages:

Exact course match not found - click OK for best match

- or -

COURSE Database error--unable to process request

Cause: Both of these error messages occur when there are no active reserves for the instructor-and-course combination specified in the ANGEL course settings. Additionally, the course database error message indicates that the ANGEL course ID does not exist in the Course Reserves system.

Solution: Click on the OK link under the error message. This will perform a search for the ANGEL instructor.

• If the instructor has active reserves, you will see their reserves list or a list of courses to choose from (if they have reserves for more than one course).
  • If you find the reserves list for the ANGEL course, and it is listed under the correct course in the Course Reserves system, this suggests that the course ID in the ANGEL course settings is not correct (especially if you received a course database error). To check the course ID, select the Manage tab in the ANGEL course, then General Course Settings. In the "ID" field, you should be able to find the course ID (e.g., ENGL 202A) mixed in with some information about the semester, campus, and section (e.g. 201011FAUP___RENGL202A_002). If the course ID is incomplete or incorrect, please use the ANGEL Support form to report the problem.
  • If you find the reserves list for the ANGEL course, but under the wrong course ID in the Course Reserves system, please contact the Course Reserves staff at your location.
• If you cannot find the reserves list for the ANGEL course, or you are taken to an alphabetical list of instructors when you click on OK (indicating that the instructor has no active reserves), please consider the following:
  • Reserve materials from previous semesters are reactivated only at the request of the instructor. University Park and World Campus instructors must submit the Reserve Reactivation Request form. Instructors at other locations are also encouraged to use this form.
  • Copyright policy prohibits us from making e-reserves available when the course is not in session. (Usually, we reactivate requested e-reserves about a week before the semester starts.)
  • Requests for e-reserves are processed according to the "need-by" dates provided in the request form. While we can usually satisfy last-minute requests, processing requires 3-5 days on average once the request and any materials required for scanning are received. Book/media reserve requests are processed in order of submission, and processing times vary widely depending on the availability of materials.

  If you believe your reserves should be available, please contact the Course Reserves Staff at your location.

Problem: When you click on Preview Activated Link, a page opens with the error message:

Reserve readings not found for instructor [e.g. 987654321]

Contact your local PSU library reserve desk, the Pattee Reserves desk at 814-863-0324 or email libraryreserves@psu.edu for assistance.

Cause: The instructor ID in the ANGEL course settings does not match any reserves faculty ID in the Course Reserves system. Often in these cases, the instructor ID in ANGEL is set to the instructor's nine-digit Penn State ID instead of their access ID (e.g. abc123). But this error may also result from something as superficial as an extraneous <space> before or after the access ID.

Solution: In the ANGEL course, select the Manage tab, then General Course Settings. Make sure that the "Instructor Login Name" field contains only the access ID of the instructor for whom materials are on reserve. If the access ID appears to be correct, delete any spaces around the access ID. Select the Save button at the bottom of the page when you're finished.

Once the instructor ID is set correctly, log out of ANGEL and restart your web browser. Then try to preview the Library Reserves link again.

If the instructor's access ID is correct in ANGEL and the error message persists, please contact the Course Reserves staff at your location.

Problem: When you click on Preview Activated Link, a page opens with the error message:

This instructor has nothing on reserve

Cause: The instructor ID in the ANGEL course settings matches a reserves faculty ID, but the instructor has no active or inactive reserves at the moment.

Solution: It is most likely that your reserves request is still being processed. Requests for e-reserves are processed according to the "need-by" dates provided in the request form. While we can usually satisfy last-minute requests, processing requires 3-5 days on average once the request and any materials required for scanning are received. Book/media reserves requests are processed in order of submission, and processing times vary widely depending on the availability of materials.

To check the status of your reserves requests, please contact the Course Reserves Staff at your location.

Problem: When you click on Preview Activated Link, a page opens with the error message:

General Error in Script: 1032...

Contact your local PSU library reserve desk, the Pattee Reserves desk at 814-863-0324 or email angel_reserv@psulias.psu.edu for assistance.

Cause: Either you have not registered with the University Libraries, you have not yet accepted the Libraries' payroll deduction policy for overdue fees, or your library user account is not active for some other reason. To see if you are registered with the Libraries, go to My Library Account and enter your access ID and password if prompted.

Solution: Please visit or call your library's service desk for registration and account assistance. If you visit the desk, please bring your Penn State ID card with you. World Campus instructors can also register by submitting the Libraries Distance Registration form.

Problem: When you click on Preview Activated Link, a page opens with the error message:

No library account found for [e.g. ABC123]

If you have a Penn State Access Account, you can go to My Library Account to complete you Library registration. You should be able to access your reserves immediately after updating your Library account information.

If you are registered with the Library but still receiving this error, contact the Reserves Services desk at 863-0324 or angel_reserv@psulias.psu.edu.

Cause: The Libraries' web system (including Course Reserves) is unavailable, either for maintenance purposes or due to an unexpected outage.

Solution: If you encounter this error message outside of the nightly maintenance period (2:00-4:30 AM, EST), please report the problem to ul-cms-reserves@lists.psu.edu. Most unexpected outages of the Libraries system are resolved within an hour.