UTA Libraries Partners with XanEdu to Provide Print Open Educational Resources

The University of Texas at Arlington Libraries has partnered with XanEdu to make print open educational resources (OER) available to UTA students, faculty, and staff.

“We are excited to announce this partnership, which will broaden the range of OER offerings to Maverick Country,” said Rebecca Bichel, dean of UTA Libraries. “Accessibility is an important tenet of our mission at UTA Libraries, so adding another affordable avenue through which we can provide OER to our students and faculty was a priority for us in 2021.”

XanEdu is the preferred print provider of the UTA Bookstore, and has worked with other OER publishers, such as OpenStax.

Director of OER for UTA Libraries, Michelle Reed, said moving to XanEdu for all Mavs Open Press publications, including OER, open access journals, and open access books, will benefit the UTA community.

“We believe student agency is important and want to make optional print copies of the OER we publish available for student purchase,” Reed said. “Some students and faculty prefer a professionally bound print copy. Partnering with XanEdu makes this possible.”

Books published by XanEdu will be subject to the same terms as other materials offered by the UTA Bookstore. XanEdu will also make the books available via Amazon.

Reed insisted that this new partnership would not change the overall model of OER at UTA Libraries.

“Our OER will always be free in digital format,” Reed said. “All students will continue to have the option to download and print their own copies of OER with no access or usage restrictions.”

Interested students can visit the Mavs Open Press page on the XanEdu website to order print editions of OER as they become available.