Kiefer Library

Free Textbooks

Aims Free-to-Students (F2S) Initiative

Aims offers free textbooks for a variety of courses every semester either through the Free-to-Student's courses (F2S) or the Reserve Textbook program. College textbooks can be a big expense, and we are thrilled to be able to offer these options to help.

Reserve Textbooks

Reserve textbooks are available for three hours and some are available for three weeks checkout starting Summer 2022.

You can browse available textbooks here.  Please note that the Library does not provide eTextbooks or course codes. All reserve textbooks are provided on a first come, first served basis. Contact the Library for assistance.

Courses at Aims with Free Textbooks

Check out the list of participating courses that offer free textbooks at the link below and be sure to check back for updates each semester.

Courses with Free Textbooks

*Please note, free textbooks are not available for all courses. Only selected courses are included in the Free Textbooks program.

Aims Student's take on Free Textbooks and the Cost of Textbooks.

About the Free-to-Student (F2S) Initiative

The Free-to-Student (F2S) initiative at Aims grew out of early success with OER adoption by a few faculties and became part of Aims strategic plan; increase the adoption of Open Educational Resources (OER) Tactical Goal under the Aims 5-year Strategic Plan (2018-2023) by 1%, year-over-year, for five years. 

F2S resources are teaching and learning resources that are freely available to educators and students. This initiative not only aims at reducing costs for students but also improving course quality and increasing student success.

The F2S grant program provides funding to Aims faculty and instructors to review OER, adopt F2S resources and or develop free resources alternative to commercial textbooks.  The goal of this grant initiative is to:

  • encourage the implementation of cost-saving educational resources while improving academic success of Aims students. 

These funds are provided by the Colorado Department of Higher Education (CDHE) and in house by Aims Community College. 

Look out for future grant opportunities.

Visit Find OER to locate openly licensed content.

The F2S grant has entered it's s third year and will fund Aims full- or part-time faculty to completely redesign/redevelop any course:

  • Course redevelopment (upto 5 grants @ $3,500 ea)

Additional Information 

Faculty-created content must be OER and hold a CC license.

Materials not eligible for the grant include:

  1. Commercial e-text versions of an existing print textbook
  2. Textbook rentals
  3. Existing textbook alternatives already in use by faculty; the proposal must be a new project

Course Redevelopment Details

All courses developed as part of this grant will follow the same “Shareable Course Shell Development Process” that Aims’ uses for all redesigned courses in order to ensure the courses meet the same expectations.

The redevelopment or adoption of open or alternative resources may include any of the following or a combination:

  • An existing open access textbook (see Find OER)
  • Library resources (see Kiefer library)
  • Combination of open educational resources, including open multimedia (e.g., TedTalks, YouTube videos, Wikimedia Commons) and Library resources
  • Faculty-authored materials

To Qualify:

  1. You MUST currently be an Aims faculty member
  2. Complete F2S grant application
  3. Attend at least one ‘Open Pedagogy Projects’ workshop
  4.  You MUST have Chair/Director support and demonstrate peer faculty support 

Expectations/Deliverables:

  1. A complete shareable D2L course shell
  2. Free-to- Student (F2S) resources
  3. Work with LED and Librarians
  4. Final Approval
  5. Ongoing Training and Course Maintenance

The OER/F2S grant proposals will be reviewed by an Ad hoc committee made of faculties and staff. Prior experience teaching with OER content is acceptable, but not required. Priority will be given for courses in one or more of the following High Impact categories: GT, High DFW, High Student Enrollment, as well as to CTE courses. 

Funded by the Colorado Department of Higher Education (CDHE)

Should you have any questions regarding these courses please reach out to Doug.strauss@aims.edu.

Year 1 Courses 

  • Art Appreciation - ART 110
  • General College Biology II - BIO 112
  • Business Ethics and Values - MAN 112
  • Intercultural Communication - COM 220
  • Public Speaking - COM 115
  • Introduction to Literature - LIT 115
  • Medieval to Modern - HUM 122
  • Responding to Emergencies - (HWE 122) 
  • Human Geography - GEO 106
  • Social Psychology - PSY 226

Year 2 Courses

  • Introduction to Women and Gender Studies  - WST 200
  • Cultural Anthropology - ANT 101
  • Art History 1900-Present - ART  207
  • Introduction to Energy Technologies - ENY 101
  • Automation Control Circuits - ELT 248

Year 3 Courses

  • In progress

OER Published Resources

Brown, Heather (2020). Responding to emergencies: Skills manual. 
https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1VYWe7v0tnJSRiwf0bP3CdeNs0nDGQ9ja. Licensed CC BY NC SA.

Cronckhite, Ty (2021). A handbook of classical rhetoric for advanced composition. https://words.pressbooks.com/. Licensed CC BY NC SA

Murray, Emma (2021). General Biology I & II for majors: Laboratory manual & workbook. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1rQ7rFkY5TuiVcVceUXykq0xSmbQ-MO60. Licensed CC BY SA

Funded by Aims

These textbooks are located in the Open Textbook  Library (OTL).

Catherine Beighey: Sociology Faculty

Connie Lance: Computer Information Systems Faculty

Patrick Gilligan: English Faculty

Stephanie Newton: Visual and Performing Arts Faculty

Emma Murray: Biological Science Faculty

Karen Scarpella: Social Sciences Faculty

Kimberli Bontempo: Psychology Faculty

Lori Adair: Extended Studies, Early College High School Faculty

Lou Cartier

Mark A. Moody: Geography Faculty

Rebecca Sailor: Humanities and English Faculty

Terri Devlin: Computer Science Faculty