A Sustainable Way Forward: A Team-based Approach to Tackling Textbook Access and Affordability Issues During the “New Normal”

Like all institutions across North America, The University of Alberta Library has experienced dramatic impacts on our services and collections due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Students at large research institution have historically relied heavily Library’s extensive reserve collection textbooks other required course materials, lending which was suddenly suspended during a mid-term emergency closure. This column will highlight team-based approach aggressively promoting OER campus community: from engaging public service desk staff in new roles as their work shifted, strategizing with team identifying high impact courses, establishing communications librarians. We discuss how “by-the-seat-of-our-pants” initial evolved into functional diverse set strengths, responsive workflow that incorporates an integrated component existing library processes.