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Open Textbooks

A Guide to Finding & Using Open Textbooks

Virtual Library

What are Open Texbooks?

  • Open textbooks have an open copyright license that allows the material to be freely accessed, shared and adapted.
  • Many instructors use open textbooks, as an alternative to expensive commercial textbooks.  
  • Open licenses allow instructors to adapt, remix, or customize existing open textbooks to maximize instructional content to meet their own learning objectives.
  • Many open textbooks are developed through traditional peer review, others are vetted by experts.  As with any textbook, the instructor is the final judge of whether an open textbook meets the needs of the course.
  • They are free for anyone to view and download in an online format and can be made available in a print format at a nominal cost. 
  • Open textbooks are part of a larger movement called "Open Educational Resources" (OER Background). 
  • Find a list of open textbook collections on our Find Open Textbooks page.
  • Contact Amy Lorencz, Metadata and Copyright Librarian, for help with finding appropriate open access course materials.

Open Textbook Infographic

Guide to Approaching & Evaluating Open Textbooks

Why use open textbooks?

David Wiley on why open textbooks are the way forward

Please note:

Content on this page is adapted from Kwantlen Polytechnic University's Open Textbooks LibGuide by the CAUL/CBUA Scholarly Communications Committee

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License