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This study aims to describe a project that aims to give students a choice to complete their general education requirements without purchasing a textbook.

In total, 26 faculty, teaching in the new general education curriculum, at Central Washington University were given stipends to eliminate expensive textbooks and use free to the student resources such as open educational resources (OER) or library resources. The data was collected on student savings and student and faculty satisfaction with the program.

Many paths were created through the general education curriculum, so a student may easily finish these requirements without purchasing a textbook. The data from this case study coincide with the literature on the subject. Faculty found it fairly easy to replace their required textbooks with pedagogically sound, free resources. Students were relieved to have some financial relief and found the resources to be good. The student’s biggest complaint was that faculty often use very small portions of expensive required textbooks.

This is a case study and the results are limited as such. This is one university and one general education curriculum. Also, if an academic library wants to replicate this case study, some funding is required.

Students struggle financially and alleviating the costs of textbooks is one-way librarians can ease that burden.

Students struggle financially and alleviating the costs of textbooks is one-way librarians can ease that burden.

There have been some case studies written about OER, where 8 or 10 courses are replaced. There are studies written about zero-textbook-cost degrees at community colleges, but this case study explores a textbook-cost-free general education program at a state university.

This paper aims to discover how many American research libraries produce podcasts, on what subjects they are produced, and how those podcasts are promoted.

The researchers looked at each American research library's website in December 2009 to determine whether the library had a podcasting initiative and, if so, what topics were covered. General scanning of the website, site search and Google search were used to discover podcasts. Facebook and Twitter pages were also examined to determine whether social media were used for podcast promotion.

It was found that approximately one‐third of American research libraries have podcasting initiatives. Podcast subjects vary widely, and social media are only used occasionally to promote the podcasts. The paper concludes that podcasting is a technology that has not yet reached its zenith and libraries have many avenues left still to explore using this technology.

The paper provides a broad exploration of podcasting by ARL libraries, a perspective that is not yet offered by the literature.

This paper aims to describe a project conducted by the University of Oklahoma Libraries to create a digital collection consisting of three‐dimensional scientific objects.

The University of Oklahoma Libraries developed the following methodology for creating a digital collection of three‐dimensional objects. Digital still photographs of six sides of each object where created. These photographs were then used to create videos that emphasized the most interesting feature on each side of the object. These videos were then imported into CONTENTdm using the picture cube feature to create the digital representation of the three‐dimensional object.

This method was found to be a good method for representing three‐dimensional objects in a two‐dimensional format for inclusion in a digital collection. However, some limitations were encountered. For example, only one interesting feature could be emphasized on each side of the object and the software used to create the digital videos, while easy to use, offered only limited features for enhancing the resulting videos.

This paper demonstrates a cost effective and resource efficient method of implementing a digital collection of three‐dimensional objects that could be further improved through the use of more advanced video creation software.

This paper offers insight into a new way of representing three‐dimensional objects in a digital library. This information will be useful to digital librarians faced with resource and cost constraints who have collections of three‐dimensional physical objects that would be of interest to their user community.

This paper aims to explain the concept of Open Educational Resources (OER) and how libraries can make a good case to donors to fund these types of projects.

The literature reveals that donors have been willing to support projects that save students money on textbooks. Course reserves have traditionally been a popular model. More recently, libraries have found funding for OER initiatives. These types of initiatives are discussed and several case studies of donors currently funding OER projects are examined.

Donors, internal and external to the library and to the university, have shown an interest in funding projects that reduce textbook costs for students. They have funded course reserves in the past and have begun to fund OER projects. There are both qualitative and quantitative methods to induce donors to fund these types of projects.

Libraries have traditionally supported the mission of access to information and for academic libraries that has sometimes included access to textbooks. Course reserves are a limited solution, whereas when an OER replaces an expensive textbook, it is a viable solution for all students.

OERs have strong social implications. Any person, whether associated with an institution of higher learning, or not, can access the information in an OER and learn the associated content.

There is some literature on specific OER projects. This paper aims to fill a gap in the literature, specifically on how to approach donors regarding OER initiatives.