Reading Lists (Leganto)

Affordable Course Materials Academy

The University Library's Affordable Course Materials Academy is a professional development opportunity that provides participating faculty with a stipend and the tools to reduce the cost of required course materials to their students through the use of the library's "Reading List" platform, library licensed resources and open educational resources (OER). 

For academic year 2025-2026, the University Library is offering two different ways for faculty to participate in Affordable Course Materials training. The two programs carry different levels of commitment and reward and will result in different outcomes for faculty and students. 

Faculty can register now to participate!

Program 1:  Convert Course to Zero Textbook Cost

Stipend for completing the program: $250

Program Outcome: Eliminate textbook cost for a course.

Requirements:

1. Attend 2 workshops, one required, one elective. Topics will include:
   • Leganto Reading List Basics (this session required for all participants)
   • Using Open Educational Resources (OER)
   • Pressbooks- Self-publish OER / Open Textbook 
   • Finding and Using Open Textbooks 
   • Advanced Reading Lists with Leganto
2. Meet with librarian(s) to get assistance with content.
3. Replace an existing textbook (with associated cost) with a library-owned text, open textbook/OER, or custom materials list. Textbook replacement must be made available through Leganto reading list.  
4. Complete a feedback survey and ask course students to complete feedback survey. 

Stipends will be distributed in December 2025.

Program 2: Use Leganto Reading Lists in a Course

Stipend for completing the program: $100

Program Outcome: Faculty member will use the Leganto Reading List platform in a Spring 2026 course as replacement or supplement to required course materials. 

Requirements: 

• Attend a Leganto training/information session in Fall 2025.
• Meet with a librarian(s) to get assistance with content.
• Enable a Leganto reading list in their Spring 2026 course.
• Complete a feedback survey and ask course students to complete feedback survey.

Stipends will be distributed by April 1 2026. 

Register to Participate in the Academy

Report from the First OER Reading List Academy

17 faculty members registered for the Academy in Spring 2024 and 16 participated in some portion of the academy. 14 of those faculty members completed the academy by consulting with their subject librarian and creating a reading lists for an upcoming class.

As a result of the academy, 13 faculty members used the library reading lists for the first and and created 18 of the top 35 most active reading lists during the summer and fall semesters. This translates to 314 more students in the fall 2024 semester (more than half of all active students in Leganto) that are able to access at least one course material online this semester because these faculty members took on the task!

These students accessing their course materials through reading lists are also saving money- almost $50K so far in the Fall 2024 semester. If you are an instructor and want to harness the power of OER and library licensed materials to save your students money, reach out to the library to find out more. 

This graph shows the savings (based on an assumption that each student that uses the online reading lists is saving $70 per class on textbooks) realized by students that actually use the library reading lists. If every student in every class that has course materials in a reading list used the free materials instead of buying a textbook, the savings would be three times as much!