Librarian as Critical Advocate: Opportunities and Challenges for Open Educational Resource Advocacy in Higher Education

At the University of Adelaide Library, we have been advocating for the adoption of open educational resources for several years. In this presentation, we present the challenges and opportunities we have faced acting as advocates for open educational resources and open pedagogical practice more generally. Through the lens of critical librarianship, we explore the cultural, institutional, and practical obstacles librarians face in advocating for curriculum change and explain the strategies we have tried to implement to overcome these challenges. Through a case study of our Open Textbook Pilot project, we show that while some strategies have been more successful than others, our experience shows that there are valuable opportunities for libraries to continue positioning ourselves as critical change agents and advocates, specifically in the space of making education more equitable with open educational resources.

Author Bio

Tom is Open Textbook Coordinator at the University of Adelaide Library, responsible for coordinating the support and advocacy of open educational resources. Tom has a background in educational technology, instructional design, library learning and teaching support, and strategic innovation management.