Part of the LibreTexts’ mission has always been to increase access to, and visibility of open educational resources (OER). Since our inception in 2008, the LibreTexts platform has grown to encompass over half a million pages of OER content that can be freely accessed online 24/7 from anywhere in the world. While users have always been able to find us online, we were not always visible in online library catalogs which may or may not include OER and/or open access resources as part of their regular indexing and cataloging processes. However, with the increased adoption of shared, or unified library management systems (LMS) by academic libraries on a global scale, the ability to include open resources such as the ones found on the LibreTexts platform has grown much easier thanks in large part to the indexing efforts of library vendors such as ProQuest/Ex Libris and EBSCO.
You don’t have to be a librarian to understand how important visibility is for the dissemination of high quality research and resources, especially for students and faculty. A well-hidden resource is, for all intents and purposes, a non-existent resource. By taking the necessary steps to index OER and open access content into their respective library discovery platforms, ProQuest/Ex Libris (Primo) and EBSCO (EDS and Faculty Select) have done just that: dramatically increased the visibility of these resources so that students and faculty will find OER alongside publisher and other resources when they search their library’s catalog. It goes without saying that greater visibility can, and likely will lead to greater use and/or adoption of OER which can go a long way toward closing equity gaps that are still persistent in higher education. If the function of education is to serve as the gateway to greater opportunity, then access to quality, reliable information, especially through the university or college library, holds the key to unlocking the potential in all of our students. The LibreTexts project remains committed to continuing our advocacy for the inclusion of OER in libraries and in classrooms on a global scale, and we hope you will join us as we work to make these resources available and accessible to educators and students wherever they happen to be.
