International Journal of Open Educational Resources Volume 2, Issue 1, Fall 2019/Winter 2020 | Page 49

Taking OER Abroad with Library-Led Partnerships
orientations, workshops, and faculty
meetings. In order to formalize and
standardize our partnership, a Memorandum
of Understanding (MOU)
was established in 2018 which designated
specific responsibilities of University
Libraries (provision of access
to resources and services, outreach,
instruction support, OER, information
literacy, collection projects, copyright,
and support learning) in exchange for
funding in support of resources, staff,
and annual travel. Our collaborative
work to support the study center differentiates
from our general distance
library services portfolio in that it goes
beyond our online learning objects,
asynchronous information literacy program,
and integration in the learning
management system to instead meet
the unique needs of our international
locations. One aspect of collections that
has been a challenge and, therefore, a
focal point for global library support is
course reserves and instructional material
support. When travelling to the
European study centers, students rarely
bring their textbooks with them due
to the nuisance of international travel
with heavy, introductory level course
materials; however, there is no access
to a local bookstore and shipping overseas
only exacerbates the already high
price of these materials, causing many
students to forego their required materials
completely. While there is a small
subsidiary of the campus bookstore in
Panama, the staff struggles with how
many items to purchase for each course,
as books have to be purchased well in
advance and students are able to drop
and add courses into the first week of
classes, causing simultaneous issues of
overstock with some courses and a lack
of availability for others. This has been
a hindrance to the teaching and learning
at each of the study centers with administrators,
instructors, and students
bringing this to the attention of the Extended
Campus and Distance Services
Librarian. This led to a critical moment
of recognition as to how University Libraries
could better support and alleviate
the instructional material predicament
at our international study centers.
Overview of Partnership
Our OER initiative has been
slowly growing on campus
since 2016. Drawing from other
open and affordable programs, we
assembled a small team of librarians
to plan, develop, and promote studentand
faculty-focused campaigns. This
effort included the implementation of
an ATG program to support instructors
transitioning from traditional,
commercial textbooks to open, affordable
alternatives. Successful applicants
received $1000 in grant funding and
support from our OER team in finding
suitable materials, navigating licensing,
and using OER-enabled pedagogy.
Based on experience in the first
iteration of University Libraries’ minigrants
program, the Extended Campus
and Distance Services Librarian
recognized an apropos opportunity: to
extend and target the mini-grant program
to instructors teaching abroad.
IP was approached with a proposal to
match the current funding model provided
by University Libraries, limiting
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