Open Education and Academic Libraries: Can Libraries Make Higher Education More Equitable? (Critical Issues in Library and Information Sciences and Services)

This book considers the issues of affordability and open education and their potential to challenge the economic constraints embedded in higher education, as well as contribute to a transformation in how higher education serves its communities. In recent decades, the costs of higher education have become increasingly unaffordable.Globally, access to high-quality education and information has been marked by inequity, especially highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic.Academic libraries have long led efforts to provide access to materials, databases, technology lending, study spaces, and textbook reserve services.They also promote awareness around open educational resources (OER) and practices, which can help higher education meet its evolving needs in a complex international context.However, these OER programs often face challenges related to sustainability, diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion (DEIA), and assessment.This book interrogates whether libraries' ethos of access