INDIANAPOLIS—The Private Academic Library Network of Indiana (PALNI) has named 10 faculty members from its supported institutions as recipients of the 2025 PALSave Open Educator Award. The award recognizes innovation and excellence in support of higher education, textbook affordability, and student success.
This year’s Open Educator Award recipients include:
As part of the PALSave: PALNI Affordable Learning Program, these individuals have been key players in the creation and adoption of Open Educational Resources, or OER—a move that reduces costs for students, improves access to required texts, and increases student success and retention.
“We are extremely proud to recognize this year's Open Educator Award honorees,” says Amanda Hurford, PALNI Scholarly Communications Director. “High textbook costs continue to be a barrier to education, yet these individuals—and the libraries that support them—work tirelessly to make course materials accessible to all students. With each of PALNI’s 23 supported libraries partnering with faculty through PALSave, they are reshaping the educational landscape together, ensuring that every student, regardless of circumstance, can learn, thrive, and succeed. Our libraries have built a strong community of champions for affordable learning, and we’re excited to see their efforts continue to benefit students now and well into the future.”
PALNI’s work represents a collaboration between each of its 23 supported libraries. Together, these institutions form a powerful community of practice—sharing expertise, resources, and ideas to achieve more than any one library could alone. Through programs like PALSave, local librarians partner directly with faculty on their campuses to advance affordable learning, while drawing on the shared support, training, and infrastructure provided through PALNI.
This statewide impact is made possible through the generous funding of Lilly Endowment Inc., which supports the PALSave: PALNI Affordable Learning Program. With Lilly Endowment’s continued investment, PALNI libraries are collectively transforming how learning materials are created and shared, ensuring that college students in Indiana and beyond have equitable access to the resources they need to succeed.
Since 2019, PALSave has eliminated over $3.8 million in textbook costs for more than 61,500 student enrollments, supported 442 course transformations, and produced 13 open-access textbooks. The next four-year phase, funded by Lilly Endowment Inc., will sustain proven strategies like workshops, faculty stipends, and textbook creation grants while exploring new initiatives to further support faculty and students.
For more information about PALSave and the Open Educator Awards, visit the program website: www.palni.org/palsave. For honoree statements, see below.
“I use OER in my criminal justice classrooms because they make high-quality learning materials more accessible and affordable for students. They also allow me to adapt and customize content to better fit the specific needs of my course and students.”
“To me, open education is about making learning accessible, practical, and relevant for all students. No matter the class, this is my central goal.”
“I use open educational materials so students can study anywhere on any device without the need for logins, access codes, device limits, or heavy and costly textbooks to haul around. The team at PALNI have done the hard work of putting together information guides to identify available books, and generative AI fills the gaps by helping create custom resources like test banks and activity guides. Thanks to PALSave I no longer use any restrictive, high-cost textbooks.”
“Everyone deserves access to quality education. That’s why I believe open educational resources should be shared and promoted worldwide—especially in developing countries.”
“I use OER because students who have their materials on the first day are more prepared and successful. Open education is about equity, ensuring that every learner has access to quality resources without barriers.”
“Using OER in the classroom is wonderful because it ensures access for everyone—but it’s also a lot more fun for my students and me! Without worrying about costs, we can explore a wide range of materials, from open textbooks and library resources to long-form articles and current news stories.”
“I use OER to bring a variety of perspectives and voices into my classroom. It helps my students gain a more holistic understanding of the topics we explore.”
“I use Open Educational Resources (OER) to make economics accessible, engaging, and relevant. OER lets me pull from multiple readings, case studies, and interactive resources, so we can explore topics from different angles and connect them to real-world examples. No expensive textbooks, more flexibility, and up-to-date materials mean a dynamic, personalized learning experience designed to spark curiosity and understanding of economics.”
“In a democracy, decisions are made by those who show up. Political scientist E.E. Schattschneider famously wrote that ‘the flaw in the pluralist heaven is that the heavenly chorus sings with a strong upper-class accent.’ Unfortunately, the rising costs of college and textbooks can deepen that inequality. A college education should be a great equalizer—equipping citizens with the knowledge and skills to be informed, engaged participants in our democracy. By creating an OER textbook with my colleague Dr. Laura Merrifield Wilson, we’re helping put valuable information into the hands of students ready to make meaningful social change.”
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Lilly Endowment Inc. is an Indianapolis-based, private philanthropic foundation created in 1937 by three members of the Lilly family — J.K. Lilly Sr. and sons J.K. Jr. and Eli — through gifts of stock in their pharmaceutical business, Eli Lilly and Company. While those gifts remain the financial bedrock of the Endowment, the Endowment is a separate entity from the company, with a distinct governing board, staff and location. In keeping with the founders’ wishes, the Endowment supports the causes of community development, education and religion and maintains a special commitment to its hometown, Indianapolis, and home state, Indiana. More information can be found at www.lillyendowment.org.
The Private Academic Library Network of Indiana (PALNI) is a non-profit organization that supports collaboration for library and information services for 23 colleges, universities and seminaries throughout the state. From its inception in 1992, the PALNI collaboration has been a key avenue for its supported institutions to contain costs while providing more effective library services. More recently, PALNI has adopted a model of deep collaboration that pools resources and people as a tool to expand services while containing costs. Simultaneously, PALNI is expanding collaboration within its institutions and with external library partners to address challenges and build cost-effective services. Visit the PALNI website for more information. (www.palni.org)
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