LMU Library Offers Faculty Stipends to Review and Teach Open Textbooks
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LMU faculty can earn up to $1,000 for reviewing and teaching open textbooks, with workshops and examples from the library’s OER collection.
Open textbooks can change what students pay for course materials and give instructors room to shape content around their teaching. This year, William H. Hannon Library is offering LMU faculty stipends to review open educational resources (OER), with additional support for those who choose to teach with an open textbook.
Faculty who complete a review receive $300. Those who also teach with the textbook in an LMU course receive another $700 and an invitation to join a supportive community of practice. Applications for reviews are accepted on a rolling basis, and completed reviews are due Monday, Nov. 16. Faculty can apply to review an open textbook.
Why open textbooks matter
OER are openly licensed teaching and learning materials, including textbooks, that students can access at no cost. Instructors can adapt them to suit a course. They can also involve students in revising material for future classes, making the textbook a resource that can grow alongside the teaching.
The affordability case is immediate: LMU students spend an average of over $1,305 per year on commercial textbooks. A 2026 study of 4,000 students found that 70% had skipped buying a textbook or access code at some point in college. Most of those students worried that going without required materials would hurt their grades. Free course materials can remove that cost barrier and help students begin class with access to the resources their instructors assign.
Affordability is only part of the argument. In 2026, the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) recognized OER as a high-impact practice. The association points to potential benefits that include lower course withdrawal rates, with results varying by institution, and more students earning A grades across institutional contexts. It also identifies improved time-to-completion outcomes for students who complete at least one OER-supported course, particularly those who take longer than four years to earn a credential.
The reported benefits also include support for student success among historically underserved populations and positive effects on instructors’ teaching and learning practices. For faculty, then, an open textbook can be more than a lower-cost substitute: adapting material may create a better fit between readings, classroom activities and assessment. AAC&U and the Open Education Association discuss OER as a high-impact practice in this webinar.
Information sessions and workshops
Faculty who are weighing whether to adopt an open textbook can attend a virtual information session. The sessions are scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 8, from 12 to 12:30 p.m., and Friday, Oct. 23, from 12 to 12:30 p.m. Registration is available for the Oct. 8 session and the Oct. 23 session.
For a closer look at the search and evaluation process, the library is also running virtual workshops titled “How to Identify, Locate, and Review OER.” They take place Thursday, Oct. 15, from 12 to 1 p.m.; Thursday, Oct. 22, from 12 to 1 p.m.; and Friday, Nov. 6, from 12 to 1 p.m. Sign up for the Oct. 15 workshop, the Oct. 22 workshop or the Nov. 6 workshop.
Faculty ready to take part can submit the Open and Affordable Textbook Initiative application to review an OER. The library is accepting applications on a rolling basis.
LMU’s open textbook examples
LMU already has examples of faculty-created OER available for use. In 2023, a team of Hannon Library librarians received a three-year, $1.5 million grant to support 11 faculty teams developing or adapting OER with social justice content. The resulting textbooks are available to instructors at LMU and at other institutions through LMU Digital Commons.
Among the projects are General Chemistry 3e: OER for Inclusive Learning, created by Nicole Bouvier-Brown, Ryan Hunt, Emily Jarvis and Saori Shiraki of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Seaver College of Science and Engineering; No-Nonsense Filmmaking, by Mischa Livingstone and Jessica Livingstone of Production, School of Film and Television; and Principles of Economics, by Shirin Mollah with USF partners Michael Jonas and Sandhya Patlolla of Economics, Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts.
The collection shows how open materials can support different subjects and teaching approaches. The chemistry textbook includes more than 500 interactive elements created by Ryan Hunt, while Saori Shiraki adapted complex mathematical formulae for screen readers and other assistive devices. Those choices put accessibility and practice directly into the learning material.
No-Nonsense Filmmaking uses student films to explain technical production concepts in plain language, accompanied by illustrations from SFTV colleague Vanessa Newell. The book was named Pressbooks’ Book of the Month for July.
Faculty can browse the OERFSJ textbooks or learn about and apply for OATI micro grants. Questions can be directed to Open Educational Resources Librarian Karna Younger. The OATI grants are supported by Provost Kat Weaver and the Academic Technology Committee.
