In this article we examine the changing status of the course reader as an instructional technology in higher education. We assess the advantages of simply providing students bibliographic entries for assigned readings instead of readers, and we evaluate this alternative in regards to intellectual property and fair use issues focusing on "Cambridge University Press v. Becker" (2012). A study of 110 course readers showed that 45% of the readings are freely available either through the university library or open access sources. Finally, we review a number of pedagogical benefits to having students work directly with scholarship within a dynamically hyperlinked environment.