Atla Annual 2020 Online

Academic libraries increasingly lead textbook affordability initiatives in higher education. In most cases, librarians have played a critical role in building, managing, and supporting these initiatives to alleviate textbook affordability problems that students have been facing. For theological institutions, where there is a shortage of openly-licensed learning materials on religion and theology, implementing a purely OER (open educational resources) solution can be a challenge. This presentation will discuss how textbook affordability initiatives can be implemented and scaled using a multitude of approaches. One can be OER, another can be the use of library-subscribed or purchased resources, and another method can be free online materials. This presentation will discuss the variety of ways that librarians can support these initiatives. There's no one-size-fits-all approach to OER, so the speaker will present a range of ideas that could work at any institution, including training and outreach, faculty grants, learning communities, campus partnerships, publishing support, regional events, and summits.