OER: Open Educational Resources

One of the most basic needs for college or university study is textbooks. These books are assigned by instructors as essential reading since they present the subject matter defined by the curriculum. Textbooks can be difficult for students to obtain because of economic hardship, financial aid limitations, or because the books are simply not available. Not having access to required materials can be detrimental to both students and instructors. See UAS Bookstore section below for information about identifying and ordering textbooks. 

How can the library help?

Egan Library has utilized strategic budgetary investments and partnerships to purchase select textbooks that are either high-cost, for high-enrollment courses or are available for the library to purchase as unlimited user access e-books. The library is not able to purchase all required textbooks for all UAS courses, since multiple copies would be needed, along with extended loan periods, in order to provide adequate access. Textbooks required for a course can change frequently and purchasing and maintaining a collection of items that go out of date in a few years would be a strain on the library budget.

The library works with faculty and other campus partners to provide the following textbook related support to students:

• Course Reserves: select print copies of textbooks available for short-term borrowing from Egan Library
  • Search Library Catalog.  
  • Limit collections to: Egan Library Course Reserves (displays all items on course reserve including ebooks)
  • Limit to "Call Number" and enter your course prefix (WRTG or BIOL or HIST, etc.): BIOL  *note this only works for physical items
• Library Collections: many courses use books or articles that aren't necessarily textbooks and may be available in library collections in print or as an e-book. 
  • Start by searching the Library Catalog or OneSearch for the title of your textbook.  
• Affordable Course Materials: Egan Library works with faculty to promote textbook affordability through the use of Open Educational Resources (OER) and other Zero-Cost course materials.  Zero Textbook Costs (ZTC): these may be open educational resources (materials with an open license to encourage flexible use and distribution), library materials, other free web-based resources. 
  • Students can search for and identify course sections that have Zero Textbook Costs!
• Interlibrary Loan: this option is limited as other academic libraries typically can't acquire all textbooks. Interlibrary loan (ILL) can be useful if only select chapters of a text are needed. Digital chapters can be provided by other libraries and can usually be delivered to students in less than one week. Interlibrary Loan information. 

Use the UAS Bookstore's online textbook ordering website to see what is required for UAS courses. Students receiving textbook vouchers from financial aid will need to purchase textbooks (new or used) through the UAS Bookstore. They first need to complete the Book Advance Form. 

If you are not purchasing using vouchers you may purchase textbooks from any provider/seller.  Plan ahead and review 3rd party seller reviews and shipping estimates.  

If you are not able to locate textbooks for any of your courses using the UAS Bookstore website, login to your course Blackboard page and look for your course syllabi or any announcements related to textbooks.  

1. Login with your UA credentials. Doing so will only display materials for courses you have registered for. If you don't have your login information proceed to step 3. If your courses are not displayed you can look up the materials for the courses listed in your scheduled by clicking "New Order" and searching for your courses. Searching using your Course Registration Number (CRN) is the most effective. 
2. Review the course materials and add your preferred format to your cart.
3. If you do not have your login info you can use the "Price Report" option to view all materials required for all UAS courses in order to identify your materials and the price range.