University of Minnesota Creates Open Academics Textbook Catalog

Open Textbook Catalog

In an effort to reduce costs for students, the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Minnesota has created this catalog of open textbooks to be reviewed by faculty members. Read full press release

Open textbooks are complete textbooks released under a Creative Commons, or similar, license.

Instructors can customize open textbooks to fit their course needs by remixing, editing, and adding their own content. Students can access free digital versions or purchase low-cost print copies of open textbooks.
Textbooks in this Catalog

All textbooks in the catalog are:

Openly Licensed. Acceptable licenses include Creative Commons Attribution, Attribution-Share Alike and Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike or similar. Some books may fall under a No-Derivatives license if the publisher offers an adequate customization program.
Complete. Only complete books, similar to traditional textbooks currently on the market, are included. Materials such as lecture notes, online courses, or drafts, are provided only as supplements to textbooks listed in the catalog.
Suitable for Adoption Outside the Author's Institution.
Available in Print. Because most students still prefer print textbooks to digital, all textbooks include a print option, generally for $40 or less. In some cases, textbooks without a print-on-demand option may be included if they are sufficiently easy and inexpensive to print locally.

Open Textbooks Catalog

Note: If you are a faculty member from any institution, you can support this project and help your peers evaluate the textbooks in this catalog by writing a review of an open textbook in your field.

Only experts like you can determine quality.

Email us at open@umn.edu to get started.