UNO Faculty Textbooks Published Through Criss Library Find Worldwide Audience

The work of UNO faculty is reaching classrooms far beyond Omaha through a growing open textbook publishing program within the UNO Criss Library Research and Instruction Services Department.

Through the University of Nebraska’s Pressbooks platform, UNO faculty have published openly available online textbooks, laboratory manuals, teaching guides, and professional resources that are free for students, instructors, and independent learners to use. The books can be browsed through the UNO Pressbooks catalog.

The first text was published in September of 2021, and the catalog now sits at 10 published texts, with several more under development and revision. Now we are beginning to see how far the impact of these resources is starting to reach.

By tracking where UNO Criss Library Open Textbooks titles are linked online, library staff can identify when books are being used in courses at other institutions. Links coming from learning management systems such as Canvas, Moodle, Blackboard, Brightspace, and similar platforms can provide evidence that portions of these texts are being adopted by instructors around the world.

That data does not capture every reader, every course, or every use. It only reflects cases where links are visible and identifiable. But even this partial picture shows a clear pattern: UNO-created educational materials are finding audiences well beyond their original courses.

These include Amy Morris’ Survey of Western Art History I, which is being linked to from learning management systems at Southwestern College in Chula Vista, California; Imperial Valley College in Imperial Valley, California; Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio; Lorain County Community College in Elyria, Ohio; and Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada.

Published in January 2022, Morris’ text was the first Pressbook published in cooperation with the library after the arrival of Craig Finlay, Criss Library’s first full-time Open Educational Resources Librarian. Currently, Pressbooks publishing is supported by two Criss Library employees: Finlay and Jay Sealy, Patron Services Associate.

“The library was a true partner in the creation of the Pressbook,” Morris said. “Craig supported me through the entire journey. His help locating images and with the structure made my Pressbook possible. This is not your typical textbook writing experience. It is doable!”

Introduction to Human-Environment Geography: A Laboratory Manual, by Zachary J. Suriano, is being linked to from Concordia University, as well as school districts in South Holland, Illinois and Bartow County, Georgia. Suriano’s book is also being linked to as a citation by Encyclopedia Britannica. This book is currently being updated by UNO Geography/Geology Instructor Leigh Anne Optiz through the Criss Library Affordable Content Grants program.

For faculty authors, these connections matter. A textbook created for a UNO course can become a teaching resource for instructors in other states and countries. A laboratory manual can support students in another institution’s course shell. A professional guide can become part of a broader conversation in a discipline. And open publishing allows for deposit into multiple platforms simultaneously.

Susan Reay’s Guidebook for Clinical Supervision in Nebraska, for example, has accumulated over 3,500 unique visitors through Pressbooks, while a copy deposited in DigitalCommons@UNO, the university’s institutional repository, has been downloaded more than 600 times by users including Network Nebraska, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Office of the CIO of the State of Nebraska.

“That textbook has gone so much farther than I thought it would,” Reay said. “It has really done a lot of good.”

Reay recently presented on the guidebook at an international conference for state regulators of social work licenses and is chairing a taskforce on social work supervision to help regulators create similar OER guidebooks. The project has also become part of her scholarship, including a peer-reviewed journal article in the Journal of Clinical Social Work.

“My major insight gained through that process was how impactful that original work can be and what barriers can be reduced to help others,” Reay said.

Together, these numbers point to a larger story about visibility and impact. Open textbooks and faculty-authored teaching materials do more than reduce costs for students, although that remains a central benefit. They also help faculty share expertise, document teaching innovation, and make UNO scholarship accessible to readers who may never encounter it through a traditional publication channel.

Other engagement with Criss Library Open Textbooks titles include:

• Family-Engaged Educational Training: Taking Steps to Build Meaningful Family-School Partnerships, by Sara Kupzyk and Apryl Poch, which is being linked to from Pennsylvania Western University, Broward College and Upper Iowa University.

• Foundation Drawing for Art 1100, by Amy Haney, being accessed via library catalogs at the University of Delaware, Berea College, and Central Queensland University.

• The Media Is: How the rest of us can make sense of it, by Adam Tyma, being linked to from CUNY, Elon University, Suffolk University, Université d’Orléans, and the University of Macau.

• Open Educational Resources for Librarians and Educators, by Craig Finlay, is being linked to by the University of the Philippines Open University.

For Research and Instruction Services, this work reflects a growing role for academic libraries in the full life cycle of teaching and scholarship. Librarians help faculty find and evaluate open materials, support textbook affordability, provide publishing guidance, and connect faculty-created works with platforms that make them easier to access, preserve, and measure.

The result is a model of library-supported publishing that benefits students, faculty, and the university. Students gain access to free and low-cost learning materials. Faculty gain a platform for creating and sharing teaching resources. UNO gains a wider public record of the expertise and innovation happening in its classrooms.

For more information about publishing with Pressbooks, contact Craig Finlay, OER and STEM Librarian.

You can also watch Craig Finlay and Jay Sealy's recent presentation, "Beyond the PDF: Publishing Open Educational Resources with Pressbooks" on NCompass Live.

For more information about depositing your scholarship into DigitalCommons@UNO, contact Jennie Tobler-Gaston, Institutional Repository Coordinator.

About Criss Library

The Dr. C.C. and Mabel L. Criss Library fulfills the UNO mission through dynamic services, highly qualified and adaptive personnel, unique and extensive collections, and accessible learning spaces and environments. With its location on UNO’s Dodge Campus, Criss Library provides UNO students, faculty and staff, and the Omaha community with the resources and materials needed to excel academically and professionally.