Research Guides: Open Educational Resources (OER) &amp; Textbook Equity: Find Open Textbooks and More

Find Open Textbooks

Open textbooks are one form of OER that are FREE, online, and intentionally licensed and shared for reuse. Most are downloadable in a variety of formats and printable at low cost. Many open textbooks are published under a Creative Commons license so Faculty can modify open textbooks to meet their needs.

Contact Textbook Equity Librarian, Anne Marie Gruber (anne.gruber@uni.edu) if you need assistance modifying open textbooks and understanding what open textbook licenses allow. If you'd like a customized list of free materials matching a course, please request a Course Materials Affordability Review.

Iowa OER Module: Finding & Evaluating OER
Short, self-paced module.
Open Textbook Library
UNI has been a member institution of the Open Education Network (OEN) since 2016. OEN is an alliance of more than 1100 campuses across the country advancing open textbook programs. The library includes more than 1500 free textbooks across disciplines.
Pressbooks Directory
Not all listed resources are OER. See licensing on individual resources.
Openstax
OER Commons
BCcampus OpenEd
LibreTexts
Manifold Community
Open Book Publishers
UK-based publisher of free academic books in the social sciences and humanities.
Directory of Open Access Books
More than 75,000 free, peer-reviewed academic books. Licensing varies, so not all are OER/modifiable.
California Open Source Textbook Project
Open Textbooks Adopted at Iowa Colleges/Universities
Rod Library adds reported UNI open textbook use to this list annually. Use an open textbook for your UNI course? Report via the regular textbook adoption process to ensure you are recognized & that students have transparent/accurate textbook information.
Curated Resources by Course
This list, provided by the Iowa OER Action Team, focuses on the most common transfer and concurrent (dual) enrollment courses at Iowa academic institutions.

Find Resources by Discipline

Resources by Discipline
Selected lists. Your discipline not represented? Contact Anne Marie Gruber to request a list!

Search for open textbooks, lesson plans, assignments, slides, and more

OER Commons
OER Commons, publicly launched in February 2007, to provide support for and build a knowledge base around the use and reuse of open educational resources (OER).

Iowa Colleges & Universities collection
OASIS
Openly Available Sources Integrated Search (OASIS).