BRADENTON, FL (November 20, 2025 )— A State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota (SCF) Venice campus literature and library team earned a Florida Virtual Campus (FLVC) OPEN FL Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) Champion award nomination for providing access to high-quality course materials versus high-cost textbooks. The award recognizes excellence in open educational resources (OER) and ZTC initiatives.

Marie Hendry, Ph.D., professor, language and literature, collaborated with Theresa Smith-Ennis, library supervisor, and Tim Kircher, librarian, reference and instruction, and member of the FLVC Textbook Affordability (TA) and OER standing committee, on a special project idea to reduce the financial burdens on students in one of Hendry’s literature classes. Instead of assigning a costly textbook, the team identified reading materials that met academic quality standards, aligned course learning objectives and supported student affordability.

“The Language and Literature department and the library share a long history of collaboration due to the department’s research component in their courses,” said Kircher. “The library has the infrastructure to streamline access to materials that are copyrighted or in the public domain, in addition to its role in guiding students through the research process.”

Kircher added that information access remains central to the library’s core values. “By using open access materials, librarians and instructors can work together to engage students, enable instructors to exercise professional creativity and meet high standards for academic excellence while managing the financial burdens students face.”

Hendry expressed appreciation for the partnership and its impact on students. “This process was great,” she said. “Tim and Theresa worked for many months to create these resources for students. Being able to substitute a reading quickly is one of my favorite aspects of the tool.” 

Most of SCF’s librarians serve on one or more of FLVC’s standing committees, which develop best practices for student information access. Kircher foresees textbook affordability efforts to remain a critical factor in SCF student success.

“With SCF serving a large population of students who face economic challenges, we expect efforts to reduce the cost of purchasing textbooks and other supplementary materials to play a role in student retention and graduation,” Kircher said.

Photo caption: An SCF student studies for his course.