OER Advocacy, Partnerships, Sustainability, and Student Engagement
Throughout this book, particularly in this third section, we see themes of the librarian as both catalyst and central collaborative leader for awareness building, adoption oversight, and project management. Librarians are central in supporting OER adoption. Here, we investigate the roles librarians play in identifying and cultivating partnerships with student organizations, government entities, multiple institutions, and the profession.
As described previously, advocating for a broad adoption of OER can be a challenge to organizational culture, and changing culture takes time and true collaboration. Our hope is that practitioners will learn about how to cultivate productive partnerships with a variety of stakeholders to support broad cultural change and uncover concrete strategies for finding and evaluating existing OER in preparation for adoption, modification, and creation of OER.
In the first chapter, Cummings-Sauls et al. highlight the role of the librarian in catalyzing partnerships across a broad array of stakeholders. The authors offer clear advice on how to engage with a variety of partners within one’s institution and with broader external communities.
Rigling and Cross outline the creation and implementation of an OER program at North Carolina State University (NCSU). The authors describe how they built partnerships with their student population to support wider advocacy for the program. Readers will find valuable insights on strategies for partnering with students and assessing outcomes.
Further emphasis on the importance of student engagement comes in Ivie and Eillis’ chapter on advancing access for first-generation college students. Here, the authors discuss the role of the library in advancing OER through integration with various campus entities, and in particular advocacy work focused on multiple student organizations. The authors offer practical suggestions in working with students to market and assess programs.
Continuing with this focus on student engagement, Baker and Ippoliti describe how they engaged students at Oklahoma State University to become advocates for OER adoption and how they worked with student organizations, supported by a development grant, to design OER and advocate for their adoption.
Kirstin Dean describes the multi-pronged approach to library-led OER adoption at Clemson University. Dean frames the issue as a communication challenge, and describes the methods she has used in effectively communicating the importance of OER to student organizations and other campus stakeholders.
To complete the section, we shift focus to extra-institutional and professional partnerships. First, LaMagna describes an approach at Delaware County Community Colleges, in which faculty librarians advocate for OER and train colleagues in implementation strategies though professional development programming. Readers will learn about the creation of the program, the funding sources, and the design of the curriculum.
Frank and Gallaway outline the train the trainer approach, outreach efforts, and how library leadership manifests in OER initiatives carried out by Louisiana’s state library consortium. Their description of coordinating OER efforts at a statewide level, in concert with a legislative body, includes discussion of a variety of challenges and opportunities.
Finally, Hare, et al. explore inter institutional collaborations to implement OER programming across the Duke Endowment Libraries. This case study explores the different settings and campus cultures across the endowment libraries and how working with endowment support to train the trainer, engage faculty, and assess their collaboration.
