UToledo librarian advocates for free course materials for students

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University textbooks are expensive – and are becoming more and more expensive.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index puts the average cost of a textbook at $236.18, a sharp increase from the $100 students paid for the average textbook in 2001. Meanwhile, the American Association of Colleges and Universities cites data indicating that the cost of textbooks rose much faster than the cost of other goods and services: 162%, compared to an average inflation rate of 74% between 2000 and 2022 .

University libraries are taking measures to address the high cost of textbooks.

Lucy Duhon, an associate professor and scholarly communications librarian at university libraries, recently completed an eight-month course through the Open Education Network, enabling her to guide instructors in the transition away from expensive commercial textbooks and toward a variety of free course materials for students to support so-called open educational resources.

“Textbook affordability is an issue of equity when it comes to our students,” said Thomas Atwood, dean of University Libraries. “The high cost of course materials represents a significant barrier to student success, and we are committed to doing everything we can to reduce these costs so that students can be successful at UToledo.”

Open educational resources (OERs) are high-quality, free, public domain, open, and customizable educational resources generally stored in digital repositories.

One example is the Ohio Open Ed Collective, which currently provides materials for high-enrollment courses ranging from calculus to economics to American history.

“There are many resources available in these repositories that instructors can search to find materials to replace the commercial textbooks they currently use in their courses. OERs are also adaptable, meaning instructors can use all or part of the materials they find and adapt the content to their courses,” Duhon said. “The certification course I recently completed prepared me to assist instructors in this process, which as we know can be daunting if one is unfamiliar with these types of resources.”

Duhon was one of nine librarians selected by OhioLINK, the state’s academic library consortium and a division of the Ohio Department of Higher Education, to complete the Open Education Librarianship Certification Program between January and September.

Her cohort was funded by OhioLINK and the Midwestern Higher Education Compact.

In a 10-week online course followed by five months of synchronous cohort meetings, the librarians explored the intricacies of OERs, including how to find them, how to adapt them, and how to advocate for their adoption in their respective locations.

Duhon concluded the course by creating an action plan applicable to UToledo that identifies opportunities to raise student and instructor awareness and how to support instructors interested in adopting them.

A library guide already summarizes numerous resources on the university libraries website.

OERs join other efforts within university libraries to combat the high cost of textbooks, including the availability of multi-user electronic books and a lecture reserve program through which instructors can make library resources available to their classes.

OERs are a focus of the OhioLINK Affordable Learning Ohio initiative. OhioLINK has been offering affordable course redesign grants since 2022 to support educators in their efforts to adopt open educational resources.

Duhon and her cohort bring the consortium’s total number of librarians currently certified in open educational libraries to 18. OhioLINK plans to support a new cohort of two librarians to begin the certification course in 2025.

“Librarians understand the resources available and are experts at connecting students and faculty with materials that meet their needs,” said Anna Bendo, director of OhioLINK Affordable Learning. “Working with faculty to facilitate the transition to OER and library-owned teaching resources that are available to students free of charge is very helpful, as it takes time that faculty—many of whom are adjuncts—simply don’t have.”