Hello to Healey Library patrons near and far!

Welcome back to campus after what we hope was a restful and rejuvenating break. To kick off the spring semester, we wanted to bring your attention to a few hot Healey Library news items about library email reminders, lowering textbook costs for students, and upcoming OER orientations for faculty:

UMBrella Email Notifications

Library patrons will begin receiving email reminders about their Library items.

As of February 1, all Healey Library patrons will receive courtesy notices about what you’ve borrowed, reminders when things are coming due or overdue, and reminders of your current borrowing status. Items that are long overdue could be subject to lost book charges, so check your bookshelves and couch cushions for lurking library materials! Please contact Library.Circulation@umb.edu with any questions, concerns, or corrections.

Lowering Textbook Costs for Students

Here are five pathways you can pursue in partnership with Healey Library and IT to offer no-cost or low-cost textbook alternatives to your students:

 

• Adopt or adapt instructional materials that are freely licensed for open use (true Open Educational Resources, or OERs)

• Use licensed e-books that are already available through UMBrella

• Submit a Reserves request for Healey Library to purchase e-books for your students to use in your class

• Link to licensed journal and newspaper articles from Healey Library databases in password-protected Blackboard course pages

• Submit a digitization request for scanned chapters of library books and e-books (note that these requests may be subject to copyright and fair use guidelines)

Open Education Info for Faculty

To learn more about the growing Open Education movement, please consider attending a FREE regional training event about the Massachusetts Open Education – Achieving Access for All project.

These events are funded by the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education and will provide an introduction to teaching and learning with free and open educational resources and will also offer faculty the opportunity to receive a $200 stipend for reviewing an existing open textbook for the benefit of colleagues. Training workshops take place 10am-2pm at the following locations:

• February 8, 2019: University of Massachusetts, Amherst
• March 12, 2019: Bridgewater State University
• March 14, 2019: Worcester State University
• March 20, 2019: Roxbury Community College

For questions about any of these resources, please reach out to Library.Reserves@umb.edu or Open@umb.edu.

As always, we look forward to partnering with you to serve UMass Boston’s students, faculty, researchers, and community partners.

With all best wishes for a wonderful start to the semester,
Joanne Riley, Interim Dean, and the Healey Library Staff