Webster Library Exhibitions

FREE BOOKS: Open Publishing at Concordia

March 3 – April 30, 2025

Webster Library LB-2 vitrines and Discovery Counter

To celebrate Open Education Month, Concordia Library is pleased to present a new display highlighting open publishing at the Library and Concordia University Press (CUP). Together, the Library and CUP collaborate to make scholarship and education free and accessible within and beyond the university.

Open educational Resources (OER) are digital resources for teaching, learning, and research that are made available for use and re-purposing. They increase the variety of instructional resources in students’ learning experiences while lowering the financial barriers. OER in the form of open textbooks are a hallmark of Concordia’s OER program. Although open-access publications from university presses often do not permit repurposing in the same way that open textbooks do, they are nonetheless free for students and can be adopted in courses. In parallel with open publishing, Course Reserves also offer a free option for students.

This collaborative display illustrates how open education and open scholarship can nurture each other. As higher education becomes increasingly costly, students stand to gain from the cost-saving benefits of viable alternatives to commercial textbooks. Meanwhile, professors can choose to deepen their research and pedagogical impact by developing open-access and knowledge-mobilization plans to benefit students and the wider public.

Organized in six sections, this display introduces students and faculty to the parallels between CUP and the Library’s OER program. In the vitrine and the digital counter, you will find awareness efforts alongside physical and digital books from CUP and Concordia’s OER program. QR codes make these titles easily accessible, while OER and CUP buttons and slogans promote the importance of open publishing.

Finally, the horizons of free course material options can be expanded through student advocacy and faculty pedagogy. We encourage students to nominate a course for open education and show their support for open publishing by wearing one of our buttons found at the Ask-Us Desk. We encourage faculty to consider open textbook grants, course reserves, and open-access university presses.

Let's reduce barriers to higher education together!

Curated by the Library’s OER Team and Concordia University Press, the exhibition will be on display from March 3 until April 30, 2025. Special thanks to Zo Kopyna, Chhayhee Sok, Saelan Twerdy, and Meredith Carruthers. - Rachel Harris

Concordia University Library supports open scholarship, education, and science. As part of this commitment, the Library leads the University’s OER Program and continues to develop open scholarship initiatives and services, such as our open guides and institutional repository.

Concordia University Press is a non-profit publisher of peer-reviewed books. Concordia University Press is committed to barrier-free scholarship and our titles are available as free, open-access e-books, as well as for sale in thoughtfully designed print editions.