Mission Statement
This resource will provide Susquehanna University faculty and staff with the ability to publish open resources and incorporate open educational resources into their classrooms. It will also provide the Susquehanna University student body with free, convenient OER while informing them of the benefits of OA.
History
The DDel-C Open Access Center was created in the fall of 2023 by Haley Dittbrenner '25. Librarians Brianne Dort and Amir el-Chidiac oversaw and guided the creation of the project.
The DDel-C was created as a centralized hub for Susquehanna University students, faculty, and staff to learn about and utilize open access materials. Through this program, Susquehanna University faculty are encouraged to publish open access works through our partner program, Lever Press Books. Faculty are also encouraged to incorporate open access texts in their courses. We also hope to inform the student body about the many benefits of open access texts.
A 2023 study conducted by Dittbrenner and the Director of the Blough-Weis Library, Rob Sieczkiewicz, revealed that Susquehanna University students find textbooks inconvenient, inaccessible, and costly. Some students have turned to illegal measures, such as textbook piracy, to mitigate these issues. The DDel-C aims to reduce textbook piracy on our campus by providing free or low-cost books that any student can access.
In Fall 2024, an Open Resources & Scholarly Communications Librarian was hired. Jenny Roberts-Reilley took over ownership of this site, updated it, and renamed it with the founder's blessing.
