Open Textbook Directories
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Open Textbook Library
Open textbooks published by higher educational institutions, scholarly societies, and professional organizations. Textbook listings include table of contents, author and publisher credentials, available formats, ancillary materials, and reviews from instructors. -
Pressbooks Directory
Pressbooks is a popular platform used by institutions to publish their open textbooks. Pressbooks offers “H5P Activities” which are interactive activities such as multiple-choice quiz questions, the results of which can be linked to gradebooks in D2L. -
B.C. Open Collection
Funded by the government of British Columbia, this repository includes open textbooks and ancillary materials such as lesson plans, study guides, assignments, and lectures. -
OpenStax
OpenStax, operated by Rice University, publishes peer-reviewed open textbooks for a variety of introductory and general education classes. Instructor resources include D2L course cartridges. Textbooks can be accessed directly in one’s browser, downloaded as a PDF, or purchased as a print copy.
Other Open Sites
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OER CommonsOne of the largest public online libraries of open educational resources. Click on the “Advanced Search” option to limit results by material type, education level, subject area, and more. OER Commons is a great place to search for learning aids such as lectures, activities, and modules.
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Creative Commons Search PortalSearch for openly licensed works on major platforms such as Google, Youtube, Flickr, and more.
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Directory of Open Access BooksIndex of peer-reviewed scholarly books available through open access. Includes free to read monographs from university presses and major scholarly publishers.
MinnState Repositories
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Minnesota State on PressbooksBrowse open textbooks published by MinnState colleagues on Pressbooks and explore options and support for publishing your own open textbooks.
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OpendoraRepository of open educational resources created by and for faculty at MinnState institutions. In addition to open textbooks, materials include assignments, course modules, lecture materials, and more.
Evaluating OER
Open textbooks should be held to the same standards as traditionally-published textbooks and instructors can evaluate OER using the same methods they evaluate any material they incorporate into their courses.
Suggested criteria for evaluating open textbooks include:
- Accuracy
- Reputation of author/institution
- Standard of technical production
- Accessibility
- Fitness for purpose
Criteria from "Finding, Evaluating, and Adapting Resources" by Creative Commons, CC BY 4.0