Finding and Using Library Materials
Using library resources within your course as required materials is another method, alongside Open Educational Resources, to provide day-one and no-cost access to your students. When first putting new library content to use, be sure to do the following in order to save time on error correction later on:
- Begin with your syllabus and consider your learning objectives for each component of the course. Are there library or open resources such as eJournals or eBooks that could be combined as a substitute for textbooks? For advanced classes, you could have your students find the course materials as part of developing their information literacy skills within your discipline.
- You can combine library and open resources! See our Selecting Textbooks guide for more details on finding OER.
- When using library resources, use permanent links (also called “permalinks”). In GALILEO Discover (from EBSCO), you can get the permalink for any resource by going to the full record (click on the title to get there), and then clicking on “Permalink” on the right sidebar.
- This will prevent errors when content in a library resource gets moved around. Also, in GALILEO Discover, the web links you see on your address bar are session-based and will expire quickly. For a massive list of database details on permanent links, check out the San Jose State University Permanent Links Guide.
- Confirm that the library resources you are using are accessible to students with disabilities.
- See our Accessibility page for more details.