Coursepack Frequently Asked Questions

A coursepack is a collection of materials bound together for class use. It may consist of articles from journals, excerpts from books, newspaper articles etc. Typically the materials come from different sources, although we do handle coursepacks that consist of an out-of-print book or a faculty member’s own class notes as well.

Any material that students will need to fulfill the requirements of a course is appropriate for a coursepack. If the material is useful but not required it may be more appropriate to have it on reserve at the library.

Any materials that are easily and freely available, whether at the library or through one of the databases NYU makes available to students may not be a good choice to go into a coursepack.

We will need original copies of the materials being reprinted.

We will need a list of each item included as well as bibliographic information on each piece. For example:

Title (of article and journal or of chapter and book)
Author
Publisher
Year of publication (month and date if it is from a periodical)
Page numbers of the item to be used

We send the materials out to our copyright partner XanEdu. They will begin the permissions process. Once permission has been obtained they will digitally scan the materials, clean them up and print them in a bound format. Occasionally printing is done here at NYU. Your coursepack is then sent to the bookstore and sold on the shelves along with any other materials you may have requested that the bookstore provide for your students. Digital coursepacks are sold on our website and an access code is e-mailed to the student.

When a publisher or an author will not grant permission to copy their work, it is called a denial. If permission is denied for an item in your coursepack, the Bookstores will inform you of the denial and discuss with you available options.

Your original materials will be returned to you after classes have begun.

The average processing time is 4-6 weeks. Often it is much faster, as is typical with Harvard Business School Case Studies. There are rare occasions where it can take longer than 6 weeks.

The process of obtaining permission can take a great deal of research. Often the rights have changed hands over the years. The publisher of the source you have found the material in may not be the actual rights holder. If they are not, then XanEdu must track down who actually owns the rights at present. This can take quite awhile and may happen with one or more items in a coursepack. Additionally, the rights holder may not respond in a timely manner, adversely effecting the availability of your coursepack. Your coursepack cannot be printed until we have received permission to print all articles included in the coursepack.

Coursepacks can be produced in print only, print+digital or digital only. Digital refers to a password protected online version of your coursepack. This is not an option for all coursepacks, as not all rights holders will grant digital permissions. In the case of digital only coursepacks we do not need to pay printing fees which may result in a lower price. Coursepacks consisting entirely of business cases (HBS, Darden, Ivey, Babson) are the best candidates for digital only. The default coursepack format is Print+Digital.

Coursepack permissions must be obtained each semester. They are only granted for a specific number of packs in a given semester. However, if you have used the coursepack within the past 12 months we may not need originals.

Ideally two months before the start of classes. This should provide ample time to clear permissions and have the pack printed and on the shelves the first day of class. Packs may be turned in later but the chances of having them for the beginning of class is small. If you have turned in your pack early enough and it looks like one or more permissions will not be granted in time, we will contact you to review your options. The earlier a pack is turned in the higher the chance of having it available for your students by the first day.

We will keep in contact with you during the process but we encourage you to check on your coursepack’s status or with any other questions you may have by contacting our Coursepack Coordinators at any time.