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91Ô­´´ Libraries
30 Park Place
Athens, OH 45701

Affordable Course Materials

Ohio Libraries is committed to providing and promoting affordable learning materials for OHIO students. Through our library collections, course reserves, Zero Cost Textbook Program, and promotion of OER the Library has many ways for faculty to help students save money on course materials.  

Research shows that students with financial needs sometimes forego purchasing required course materials even though they know it will impact their grades (Student PIRGs. (2021). , 3rd ed). 

There are multiple ways to make learning more affordable for students. We are happy to partner with you to discover and create no-cost course materials for your students. Use these strategies to make your course materials as affordable as possible. Check out the strategies below or contact John Canter, Chris Guder, or Haley Shaw to get started.

Zero Cost Textbook Initiative

The Zero Cost Textbook (ZCT) Program is designed to help reduce the cost of higher education for students by replacing commercial textbooks with Open Educational Resources (OER) or library-licensed content. Learn the program details and how to participate in the .

Making Traditional Textbooks Affordable

Place a physical copy of the textbook on course reserve in any of our libraries.

  • This can be your copy or a library copy (if we own it).
  • We also have other items that students need outside of class, like bone models, microscopes and slides, DVDs, music CDs, and more.

Let students know which older editions they can use.

  • Let students know in your syllabus how to navigate assigned readings using older editions that still meet your learning goals (e.g. use chapter headings if page numbers are different).

If using portions of books,  those and make them electronically available.

  • Choose the Libraries’ course reserve system or Learning Management System to host the scans.

Library Provided Materials

Link to the Libraries’ electronic articles, newspapers, books, and movies.

Choose a book that is available electronically from the Libraries.

  • Ask your librarian about limits on simultaneous logins to our e-books.

Open Education Resources (OER) & Open Textbooks

Adopt an Open Educational Resource (OER) or open textbook.  

  • High-quality OERs are increasingly available.
  • OERs are free to readers and allow you to customize the content to suit your course needs.
  • Ask your librarian for help.

Adapt an existing open textbook or OER to your needs or create your own!

  • This is often done in conjunction of course design or re-design – reach out to the Office of Instructional Innovation for assistance with course design.
  • Consider the  as a place to host your open content.

Understand Open Educational Resources (OER) and Open Textbooks
  • from the Colleges Libraries Ontario (CLO), provides information for instructors to help "understand, engage with, and sustain OER in their work and practice." 
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  • More on  

Find Open Textbooks and OER with these Discovery Tools
  • Examine the OER materials from the  
  • (Openly Available Sources Integrated Search) includes the ability to limit search results by license, type, subject, source, and reviews available. 
  • searches sixteen collections of open resources in real-time, returning the top several hundred or so relevant hits from each site. 
  • offers California State University's curated lists by discipline of open textbooks from Merlot and other sources 
  • links to discovery tools for open textbooks, photos, video, audio, and more. 
  • is a growing catalog of free, peer-reviewed, and openly-licensed textbooks. 
  • a searchable database of tens of thousands of  discipline-specific learning materials, learning exercises, and , together with associated comments, and bookmark collections. 
  • includes open textbooks for high enrollment college courses using the Connexions platform. 
  • – open teaching and learning materials including full university courses, interactive mini-lessons, simulations, and electronic textbooks. 
  • – Textbooks, syllabi, assessments for 81 high-enrollment college courses created by a Washington State Board for Community & Technical Colleges (SBCTC) grant. 
  • – Curated by librarians and their institutions, the Teaching Commons includes high-quality open educational resources such as textbooks, course materials, lesson plans, multimedia, and more. Discover content by type of work or subject. 
  • – a scholar operation committed to making high-quality research available to readers around the world, including a growing collection of monographs and textbooks in all areas. 

Make Your Own Content Open
  • Considering joining a community of instructors creating their own content:  
  • Consider letting us host your open textbook or other open content at the OHIO Open Library 
  • :  Kirkwood’s Community College’s excellent guide to helpful tools. 
  • Jhangiani R. and Biswas-Diener, R., eds. (2017). . London: Ubiquity Press. 
  • Falldin, M. and Lauritsen, K. (2017).  .  Minneapolis, MN:  Open Textbook Network – Includes a checklist of considerations and sections on copyright, Creative Commons licenses, textbook organization, authoring frameworks, and publishing tools. 
  • Moxley, J. (Sept – Oct, 2013). . Academe.  – the story of one instructor’s decision to create an open textbook. 

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