The UB Libraries work closely with their faculty partners to assist with the critical work of providing high quality, affordable learning solutions for students. The Libraries' departmental liaisons and open education specialists work with faculty to identify and secure course materials in a variety of forms to mitigate the ongoing challenge of costly college textbooks. Librarians commonly assist with finding alternative course texts, leveraging licensed content available through subscription databases, creating course packets, or adopting or creating open educational resources. 

During the summer term of 2015, the UB Libraries created an e-textbook initiative for UB's partnership program with the Singapore Institute of Management (SIM) to mitigate the cost of international editions of course texts. The thrust of the initiative is to provide free electronic access to course textbooks for students in the UB-SIM program. The figures below are a numeric representation of the initiative's success from the summer term of 2015 to the present date in terms of e-textbooks provided, the numbers of affected students, and the resulting cost avoidance (In U.S. and Singapore Dollars).

(Figures represent activity between Summer 2015 and Spring 2024 semesters. Last updated February 9, 2024)

The UB Libraries are following the lead of organizations like the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC) to advance the cause of open and affordable education. Visit SPARC's Open Education site to learn more. The UB Libraries are a proud member of this progressive organization.

Interested in finding solution for your textbook problems? Your subject specialist librarian is your partner for finding, adapting, or creating the course materials that align with your your instructional needs and preferences.

The UB Libraries are a proud member of the Open Textbook Network (OTN), which is an affiliation of North American college and university libraries devoted to advancing the use of open textbooks and open practices.