To learn about how you can use Open Educational Resources (OER) to further affordable learning @ Franklin, or for information about the Creative Commons license used in many affordable learning resources, see our guide to Open Educational Resources.
Recognizing the importance of affordability in education, in 2018 the Franklin University Library began the library etextbook initiative. The library's etextbook initiative encourages the use of ebooks licensed through the library, or open educational resources (OER), as textbooks.
Both library and OER etextbooks are available to students at no cost to the student. As part of the library's etextbook initiative, librarians work with faculty and course designers to identify titles which the library can purchase for use in courses, or which are available as an OER. Faculty/designers can ask the library to search for articles to replace textbooks by submitting the research project request form.
Additionally, when new textbooks are adopted for a course, the library receives notice and checks whether the new textbook can be made available to students as a free library textbook.
Franklin University courses currently (fall 2024) uses 382 library etextbooks and 46 OER or other external free ebooks as textbooks. As of Fall, 2024, 43% of courses with textbooks use either library textbooks or OER textbooks. You can see additional information about courses using library/OER etextbooks and the resulting student savings on our library/OER etextbook use dashboard.
For additional information about the Franklin University Library's etextbook program, see:
In addition to identifying possible library or OER etextbooks for use in a course, librarians will also work with faculty and course designers to identify alternatives to textbooks which students can use through the library at no charge. These alternatives include identifying articles available through library databases or open access resources which may be used in place of a textbook.
Faculty/course designers identify areas where they need resources to take the place of textbooks. They then consult with a member of the library’s staff to inform the library of these topics. Librarians then conduct research and provide their findings to the faculty / instructional designer who will review them and choose what library eresources to include in the class. Faculty/designers can ask the library to search for articles to replace textbooks by submitting the research project request form.
As part of the library's etextbook initiative, the library has publicized its ability to look for library etextbooks, OER etextbooks, and articles available through the library which can be used in place of textbook to faculty and designers.
The library has also created an Open Educational Resources (OER) Research Guide to help course designers and faculty members locate and evaluate OER alternatives to traditional textbooks.
