Welcome! If you're seeking free learning resources to replace traditional, expensive textbooks, you're in the right place.
| This guide is a compilation of Open Educational Resources (OER), Open Access (OA) materials, and Library-Licensed Educational Resources (LER). |
OER |
Open Educational Resources are teaching, learning, and research materials that have been released under an open license that permits no-cost access, use, adaptation, and redistribution by others. Our OER website has more information and advocacy resources. |
OA |
Open Access materials are scholarly content that has been made freely available and immediately accessible in a digital format. Most OA materials are journal articles and books. These resources allow for access and use but not adaptation or redistribution. Our Affordable Course Materials website has more information. |
LER |
Library-Licensed Educational Resources is content that is paid for by the University Libraries and openly available to the UNC community through user authentication. Our Affordable Course Materials website has more information. |
Use the navigation pane on the left to find courses. They're listed alphabetically and categorized by subject.
Most of the resources on this guide are for courses in UNC's Liberal Arts Curriculum (LAC), though some subject areas include no-cost resources for courses that are not part of the LAC. We're hoping this guide will grow over time and include materials for many UNC courses in every discipline.
If you want an official list of courses in the LAC, see this page from the Registrar's Office.
Do you have questions about OER, free-to-student options, or other textbook affordability issues? Contact Nancy Henke, UNC's Textbook Affordability Librarian.
Are there no-cost learning materials we should add to our list? Did we miss the mark somewhere? Do the listed resources not work for your course? Please reach out so we can make this guide better.
"Brainstorm icon" by Iconathon from the Noun Project is in the public domain.