International Studies & Geography - OER & Other Free Materials
CU library staff have identified a number of freely accessible textbooks and other materials that faculty might consider adopting for their courses. Check out the following resources below:
International Studies & Geography - Open Textbooks Online
These teaching and learning materials can be distributed and reused by anyone under the conditions of the Creative Commons license of the work. This is not a comprehensive list. More materials can be found by searching the OER repositories listed here.
International Studies & Geography - E-Textbooks at Montgomery Library
To reduce textbook costs for students, you might consider adopting an e-book at the Montgomery Library as your course textbook. Check out the titles below.
Use Links not PDFs: Simply copy the links below into your syllabi or Moodle courses. (Downloading PDFs of library resources and providing them to students can be considered a copyright violation.)
Note: JSTOR e-books are permanently stored in JSTOR's collection, but EBSCO may periodically remove access to certain e-books in its system. To confirm whether an electronic textbook is permanently available through the Montgomery Library and available for multiple users, please contact the Instruction & Reference Specialist.
Introduction to International and Global Studies, Third Edition by 
Canada and the Challenges of International Development and Globalization by 
Cultural Psychology and Christian Diversity: Developing Cultural Competence for a Diverse Christian Community by 
Identity in the Shadow of a Giant: How the Rise of China is Changing Taiwan by 
Japan: History and Culture from Classical to Cool by 
Judaisms: A Twenty-First-Century Introduction to Jews and Jewish Identities by 
Multilingualism and Intercultural Communication: A South African Perspective by 
Researching the Middle East: Cultural, Conceptual, Theoretical and Practical Issues by 
Russian-American Relations in the Post-Cold War World by 
Shocks and Rivalries in the Middle East and North Africa by International Studies - Open Access Resources
The publishers have made these journals free and accessible to everyone. Search the Directory of Open Access Journals for additional open access periodicals.
Disclaimer: Campbellsville University does not necessarily endorse the viewpoints in third party sources.
Tips for Finding Open Textbooks
Library staff have identified hundreds of recently published open textbooks, which can be found under Open Resources by Subject in the left menu bar, but you may also want to search the OER collections yourself to find free and open materials for your courses. The top recommended repositories are listed further down this page.
You are also welcome to schedule an in-person or online Personal Research Appointment with the Instruction & Reference Specialist, who can help track down sources for your courses.
How to Select and Evaluate OER: Backward Design
Faculty are encouraged to use the "backward design" method, which means first reassessing learning outcomes and objectives on their syllabi and then locating OER materials or other free library resources that align. It is common to select chapters from multiple open textbooks that align with the natural subdivisions within a course. Even if you prefer to use your regular textbook, open textbooks can be used for supplementary or remedial readings for students who need more background knowledge.
Faculty evaluating OER generally consider the following criteria:
Top Recommended Repositories/Collections of OER Textbooks
Other Collections of Quality OER Materials:
OER Textbooks vs. E-Books at the Montgomery Library
Another way to reduce textbooks costs is to assign Montgomery Library electronic resources as course readings. Just make sure the library has permanent access to those materials. To find recommended library resources that are part of our permanent collection, please scroll to the middle / bottom of the page for your subject area. (Fnd your subject area under Open Resources by Subject in the left menu bar.)
You are also invited to schedule an in-person or online Personal Research Appointment with the Instruction & Reference Specialist, who can help identify possible course readings for you.
