Affording Access: Pathways to Reducing Textbook Costs

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/palrap.2021.250

Abstract

After piloting an Open Educational Resources (OER) grant program, librarians from the University of Scranton’s Weinberg Memorial Library OER Committee conducted a survey of librarians about the inclusion of library resources in OER initiatives. The survey examined if institutions defined library resources as OER, why libraries chose not to include library resources, and, if included, the types of library-licensed or purchased content. The survey found that most (18 of 27) respondents did not include OER and library resources together and, of the institutions that did, a majority (5 of 9) used licensed library resources in addition to open educational and open access resources. The conclusion of this article looks at the pilot grant program and the OER Committee’s decision to realign and rebrand the grant in light of the survey results.

Author Biographies

Kelly Banyas, Weinberg Memorial Library The University of Scranton

Kelly Banyas is an Assistant Professor and the Research & Instruction Librarian for Student Success at The University of Scranton's Weinberg Memorial Library.

Marleen Cloutier, Weinberg Memorial Library The University of Scranton

Marleen Cloutier is an Assistant Professor and the Cataloging & Metadata Librarian for the University of Scranton’s Weinberg Memorial Library.

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Published

2021-06-29

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Research