LOCR Student Guide

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Library Online Course Reserves (LOCR) is where you can access certain required readings and other content items for courses called course reserves. Instructors make these course reserves available for you through the UBC Library.

Tool Summary

AccessYou can access LOCR through Canvas if your instructor has set this up, or you can log in to LOCR outside of Canvas.
BandwidthLow demand on internet connections.
PrivacyComplies with UBC’s privacy requirements.

What will I use it for?

Your instructor may ask you to use LOCR to access library items specific to the course:

  • Read electronic or physical articles and books
  • View web and media resources
  • Access PDFs of book chapters
Jump to section
  1. What do I need to use LOCR? (Jump to section)
  2. How do I use LOCR? (Jump to section)
  3. Where can I get more support with LOCR? (Jump to section)

What do I need to use LOCR?

A supported web browser

LOCR runs in your web browser and supports the latest versions of Chrome, Edge, Firefox, or Safari.

A UBC course that uses course reserves

You will only see a list of items in LOCR for a course if your instructor has requested them.

Tips

  • If you recently registered for a course that uses LOCR, it may take up to 48 hours to gain access to LOCR. If you still have trouble accessing your course reserves after several days, please contact your instructor.

How do I use LOCR?

Click any accordion bar below for instructions and tips for using LOCR.

There are two ways you can access course reserves in LOCR: from inside a Canvas course (if your instructor has enabled this) or from the standalone LOCR site.

Please note that your course reserves might not yet appear in LOCR if they are still awaiting approval by the UBC Library. You can speak with your instructor to confirm which resources you should currently have access to in LOCR.

Access to your course reservers in LOCR from a:

From a Canvas course

From a Canvas course

  1. Log in to your Canvas course and click Library Online Course Reserves in the Course Navigation.
  2. The LOCR site will open in a new tab, and you will see a list of the available course reserves.

Tips

  • Not all instructors will add LOCR to the Course Navigation in Canvas. If you cannot find LOCR in the Course Navigation, check if your instructor has published links to course reserves in the course modules instead. You can also log in directly to the standalone LOCR site.
From the LOCR site

From the LOCR site

  1. Log in to the standalone LOCR site using your UBC CWL (Campus-Wide Login).
  2. Select the course in the “Course” column.
  3. You will see a list of the available course reserves.

Tips

  • You can filter your list of courses in LOCR. Check the “Show current and future courses only” and/or “Show courses with readings only” boxes. The “Show current and future courses only” filter is turned on by default. You can also turn off these filters to access course reserves from past courses, if they are still available.

In LOCR, you can click any course to see its course reserves list. Use the search box to search for a specific course reserve item by title, author, or tag. Instructors may use tags to describe and organize the course reserves. For example, an instructor might add a “Week 1” tag to all items that should be read in the first week of the course.

Under the “Read” column, each item in the course reserves list will indicate if you have previously accessed it. Clicking any item title will allow you to view an electronic item directly or see where a physical item is available on campus.

Each electronic item has a set start and end date that indicates its availability to you in LOCR. These availability dates mean that you may not be able to access all the course reserves after the course ends, so please download any electronic items you want to continue accessing.

Where can I get more support with LOCR?

Technical support

If you have trouble with LOCR:

  • Contact your instructor or teaching assistant as your first point of contact.
  • If you are having trouble accessing LOCR from Canvas, please log in to the standalone LOCR site to access your course reserves.
  • If you encounter errors when accessing an electronic item, contact Koerner Library at koerner.reserve@ubc.ca.
  • Contact us at the LT Hub for further assistance:
    604 827 4775 or LT.hub@ubc.ca or visit the LT Hub online.

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