University of the Pacific students have saved more than $3 million since 2017 through a program that provides educational resources at no cost in lieu of purchasing traditional textbooks.

The Open Educational Resources program, led by staff at the William Knox Holt Memorial Library and Learning Center, provides stipends for faculty to create or modify educational materials, ranging from single lessons to full textbooks and videos.

“I am very appreciative of the professors who have given us access to open educational resources,” said communications major Sophie Briggs ’26. “As a full-time student, buying multiple textbooks a semester can really add up. Open education resources are also very helpful when I am away from school but still have work to be done for my classes because they are accessible through Canvas.” 

As of fall 2025, the library has awarded stipends to more than 80 faculty across all nine of Pacific’s schools and colleges.

Associate Professor Eric Sonstroem received a stipend to create educational materials on college writing—now used in all Core 2 seminars for English students—which allowed him to tailor materials to the class.

“Producing ‘Pacific Writing’ in-house meant that I could make it fit to purpose, focused on exactly the kind of reading and writing skills students develop in Core 2,” Sonstroem said. “It is straightforward, pragmatic and skills-based, as opposed to intimidating, abstract and theoretical. It is accessible and welcoming, and it is explicitly and strongly branded to Pacific. I also update it each year based on feedback from Pacific faculty and students who use it.  None of these would be possible with a commercial product.”

Open educational resources started as a library pilot program in 2017 with funding provided by the university’s Technology in Education Committee.

“At Pacific, we're putting our money where our values are,” said Director of General Education and Professor of History Jennifer Helgren, adding that the resources create better learning outcomes for students. “We don't just take what's out there and go through the chapter with students. We're really involved in creating classroom experiences that show our own research and expertise. We’re carefully curating the classroom experience for our students,” she said.

The library will celebrate their $3 million savings milestone and share more about open educational resources at a special event Tuesday, March 3.