By Lauren McKeen, Open Education Librarian
The shift to remote teaching has shone a spotlight on the importance of access to course materials and its impact on students’ ability to engage fully in their classes. The Libraries are here to support you and work with you to find solutions that make your courses more equitable and accessible for all students.
Textbooks
Fall 2020 course reserves are online only. The Libraries may be able to purchase an e-book version of your assigned textbook for your students to access via NUsearch. If the text is not available as an e-book, a subject librarian can work with you to find alternative digital materials. Contact your librarian or email library@northwestern.edu to inquire about your assigned course materials.
It is important to note that the following major publishers do not provide institutional licenses to e-books and thus cannot be purchased for students to access via the Libraries:
- Pearson
- Cengage
- Houghton
- McGraw-Hill
- Oxford University Press (textbook division)
Alternative course packs
A recent survey of Northwestern students found that 20% did not purchase their class course pack because of the cost. Instead of assigning a course pack, first check to see if the readings are available at the library. Use NUsearch to look for links to articles, or send your syllabus to air@northwestern.edu and we will look for you. When a course reading is available via a library database or in NUsearch, link to the article rather than uploading a PDF to Canvas (see video instructions here). This ensures the journal article is being accessed lawfully. It also helps to keep accurate usage metrics, which impacts purchasing and collection decisions.
Book chapters
The Libraries can digitize book chapters and articles from physical journals or newspapers within our collections and make them available in your Canvas course. Place your request via the Course Reserve link in Canvas. If the journal article is available via NUsearch, no need to place a request — simply link to the NUsearch record in the Modules section of your course.
Please note: library staff will scan and make available no more than 15% of any single book, or no more than a single article from a periodical.
Streaming audio and video
The Libraries provides streamed audio and video services from material in our collection for University courses. Place your requests via the Course Reserve link in Canvas.
Email e-reserve@northwestern.edu or call 847-491-7681 with questions.
Open Educational Resources
Open Educational Resources (OER) are free teaching materials (such as textbooks, presentations, and test banks) that are intended to be widely distributed and modified to fit the particular needs of instructors. The Libraries can help you find OER within your discipline, and can work with you to adapt it for your needs. And considering our new teaching environment, Open Educational Resources are the most effective option when it comes to providing accessible, low-cost, high-quality course materials to our students.
To begin exploring OER, start with the following resources:
- Open Textbook Library: managed by the Open Education Consortium (of which Northwestern is a member), the Open Textbook Library is a collection of hundreds of faculty-reviewed textbooks that have been used in at least two higher education institutions.
- OASIS: An OER search tool with full textbooks, modules, homework sets, A/V materials and more
- Adopt an Open Textbook: A how-to guide on finding and adopting an open textbook for Northwestern courses
Campus support
The Libraries are sponsoring members of the Affordable Instructional Resources (AIR) group, which is a campus-wide network of faculty and staff working to reduce course material cost in order to create more inclusive and equitable learning environments. Visit the AIR website to learn more about our focus areas, additional course affordability programs at Northwestern, and how you can get involved.