This guide is currently mostly for courses in UNC's LAC (Liberal Arts Curriculum), but over time we hope it will grow to include many other courses, too. If you want to find no-cost course materials for a class that's not listed here, please reach out to Nancy Henke, Textbook Affordability Librarian, for assistance.
Not to worry! If the resources listed are close to what you need but don't quite fit, please contact Nancy Henke, Textbook Affordability Librarian. Since many of the resources in this guide are Open Educational Resources, that means that they can be adapted and/or remixed with other materials. This means that you may be able to take parts of one OER and parts of another OER and "remix" them into a new resource. We can help with this! There also may be other no-cost options available for your course that we just couldn't fit on this guide; reach out and we can talk.
Let us know about it! This guide is meant to grow, change, and adapt over time.
You are the subject matter expert in your field, so you are the best person to evaluate the quality of no-cost resources that might be useful in your course. This page of our OER website has some evaluation checklists you may find useful as you assess the quality of these materials.
Understanding copyright and open licensing can be tricky. But fear not: librarians are here to help! Members of the University Libraries Scholarly Communication team know a lot about copyright and can help advise you.
The UNC AOER Committee, with grant funding from the Colorado Department of Higher Education, offers grants each school year to help fund faculty OER projects. You can learn more about OER grants at the AOER Committee grants website.
Check out some of our related guides, include the Open Educational Resource guide, the Affordable Course Materials Guide, and the AOER Committee Guide.
Do you have questions about OER, free-to-student options, or other textbook affordability issues? Contact Nancy Henke, UNC's Textbook Affordability Librarian.