International Journal of Open Educational Resources Volume 2, Issue 1, Fall 2019/Winter 2020 | Page 47

Taking OER Abroad with Library-Led Partnerships
Introduction
At Florida State University, International
Programs (IP) was
identified as an early partner
for our open educational resources
(OER) initiative due to the widespread
course materials complications our
global sites face without access to a local
bookstore and in maintaining the
high-cost, traditional textbook model
in the increasingly flexible global
learning environment. IP coordinates
our university’s extensive study abroad
program, which offers opportunities
for global learning at four international
study centers and faculty-led programs
in over 20 locations. This collaboration
has grown to include an internationally
focused mini-grant program, mirroring
our on-campus alternative textbook
grant (ATG) program. Instructors travelling
from the main campus to teach
abroad or those located permanently at
our international study centers are offered
support for switching from a traditional
textbook to a low-cost or open
option, funded by the IP department.
Furthermore, our collaboration has allowed
for targeted outreach to the high
enrollment courses taught abroad and
the opportunity to provide workshops
and presentations to our international
faculty with a focus on the specific
course material issues that affect instructors
teaching overseas. This article
provides an overview of our University
Libraries’ partnership with International
Programs in supporting and promoting
our open and affordable initiative
beyond main campus with guidance
for other academic libraries and OER
teams on partnering with global learning
divisions and the general benefits to
developing specialized OER outreach
programs.
Literature Review
In order to assess the impact of OER
initiatives, many OER researchers
have focused on cost, outcomes,
usage, and perceptions—the so-called
COUP Framework developed by the
Open Education Group (Hilton, Wiley,
Fischer, & Nyland, n.d.). However,
very few researchers have focused on
the use of OER initiatives to forge new
partnerships between stakeholders at
an academic institution. In cases where
researchers have focused on this topic,
they typically do so in a cursory fashion
as part of a larger argument. For
example, Salem (2017) examined many
specific examples of library-led OER
initiatives that involve various kinds
of partnerships, but only briefly mentioned
the importance of intra-institutional
partnerships in particular, and
then only with reference to common
partners, such as teaching and learning
centers, faculty development units, institutional
research offices, student governments,
and university bookstores.
Although Kleymeer, Kleinman, and
Hanss (2010) explored the skills and
advantages that academic libraries can
bring to intra-institutional OER partnerships,
they mostly focused on the libraries
rather than on any other specific
partners and made no mention of international
study abroad programs as a
potential partner. Researchers have also
explored partnerships between librar-
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