New open textbooks published by WMU Libraries free for learners worldwide

KALAMAZOO, Mich.—Western Michigan University Libraries is excited to announce the publication of three new open textbooks by Western faculty funded by Open Educational Resources (OER) Creation Grants. 

Western students and learners worldwide now have free online access to:

• “Communicating Environmental Sustainability in Business for Global Audiences,” by Marie Moreno.
• “Getting Started on Your Professional Job Search: A Workbook for College Students,” by Amy Zufelt.
• “Introduction to Methodological Philosophy: A Guide for Instructors and Students,” by David Paul, Levi Smith, Daniel Gaines and Daniel Kosacz.

OER are openly-licensed resources that are free for anyone to use. Switching from traditional textbooks to OER has saved Western students an estimated $1.3 million in textbook costs in grant-funded courses.

The number of OER is on the rise, but these new textbooks will help address gaps in subjects available to learners around the world. The seven open textbooks published by WMU Libraries have garnered over 65,000 page views as of September 2025.

“The growing library of open books we have published are evidence of the value of open educational resources for WMU and far beyond,” says Michele Behr, scholarly communications and open educational resources librarian.

“The usage numbers of the books we have published so far show that they are being heavily used all over the world."

Behr commends the authors for their significant investment in creating the textbooks. 

“While the grant provides incentive and partial compensation for their efforts, it does not reflect the number of hours that go into developing and writing a complete textbook.”

The new textbooks were created with support from the Libraries’ Open Educational Resources (OER) Grants program, which supports the adoption and creation of OER that are free for instructors and students to use, adapt and remix. Grant-funded authors received funding and publishing support from the University Libraries and technical expertise from WMUx to create high-quality, interactive open textbooks that support learning everywhere.

Applications for the next round of OER grants are set to open on Monday, Oct. 6, for courses in 2026. All Western faculty and instructors are invited to apply for a grant to adopt an existing OER for their course or create a new OER.

For more WMU news, arts and events, visit WMU News online.