A March 4 summit at University of South Carolina Libraries offered faculty, administrators, and staff from across campus an array of ideas and resources that can minimize or even erase the cost of course materials for their students.

The Open Educational Resources Summit, coordinated by Research and Instruction Librarian Kala Dunn and the Libraries’ Associate Head of Acquisitions and Scholarly Communication, Amie Freeman, provided information about how faculty can make the transition from using textbooks and other classroom materials that students must purchase to similar materials that are available free of charge.

Adoption of these free Open Educational Resources (OER) and library-licensed materials has to date saved USC Columbia students almost $5 million.

At the OER Summit, faculty from units including the McCausland College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Nursing, the College of Hospitality, Retail and Sport Management, and the College of Information and Communication had the opportunity to spend all or part of the day learning about and engaging with OER and exchanging ideas among themselves. Attendees were also able to hear from USC faculty members who have already adopted OER.

"The Summit was a great opportunity to witness the many efforts of our faculty, administrators, and staff to address financial barriers to student success.” said Dunn. “It really demonstrated our campus community's dedication to making high-quality education both accessible and affordable."

The OER Summit was an outgrowth of the Libraries’ longstanding support of faculty who seek to offer free educational resources to their students, which also includes funding and mentorship for select faculty seeking to transition to OER through the annual SCoer Awards. The deadline to apply for the 2026 SCoer Awards is April 24.