University of Findlay’s Affordable Learning Initiatives

                                                                                                                                        University of Findlay

Shafer Library began partnering with other areas of Academic Affairs in 2018 to educate faculty on the variety of affordable learning options available.

Advocacy:

Librarians partnered with staff from both the Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) and Online Programs to offer a three part series of presentations during Spring 2018. The three presentations introduced faculty to the overall concepts of affordable learning, finding and incorporating library licensed content into courses, and open access journal publishing opportunities.

Two librarians participated in OhioLINK’s Open Textbook Network (OTN) training in Spring 2018.

What we are doing:

Support adoption: College Librarians have worked directly with individual faculty in the Colleges of Business, Education, Liberal Arts, Health Professions, and Sciences who expressed interest in finding library licensed, open access, and/or open educational resources that may be adopted to replace or supplement commercial textbooks.

Drop-in sessions: Librarians have scheduled hours when faculty can stop by to ask questions about library licensed content, open access, or open educational resources.

Course Reserves: Faculty may place copies of textbooks on reserve for student use during the semester.

LibGuides: Librarians created a number of guides to help faculty learn about specific library licensed resources, open access content, and open education resources. http://findlay.libguides.com/

Future directions:

Inclusive Access: It is hoped that faculty in the College of Sciences will be able to take advantage of inclusive access for high enrolled courses following the current transition to Canvas and Workday.

Assessment: Library staff plan to conduct a survey to identify how many faculty have opted to use library licensed, open access, or open educational resources at the end of the 2018-19 academic year.

Contact Information:

Additional information may be obtained by contacting:

Drew Balduff, Electronic Resources Librarian, balduff@findlay.edu

Andrew Whitis, University Librarian and College Librarian for Business, whitis@findlay.edu