Open Textbooks
Open Textbooks
The open textbooks below have been published by the University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing and are licensed to be freely used, adapted, and distributed. We can help faculty and instructors author and use open textbooks in their courses. Please contact us at libpubs@umn.edu for more information.
Recently Published Textbooks
An Introduction to Cooperation and Mutualism
By Michael Boland
This textbook introduces readers to the idea of cooperation and mutualism. Cooperatives and mutuals are participatory organizations in which members participate in control and governance, receive economic benefits through patronage refunds or net income, and become owners through equity. These mutual-benefit organizations exist alongside non-profit organizations and investor-benefit organizations through the global economy.
Innovative Learning and Teaching: Experiments Across the Disciplines
Edited by Ilene D. Alexander and Robert K. Poch.
The authors of these chapters are faculty and instructors from the University of Minnesota System whose proposals to pursue innovative undergraduate teaching and learning at the course or curricular level were awarded grants through the Provost’s “Experiments in Learning Innovations” or “Digital Technology” initiatives.
Immigrant and Refugee Families: Global Perspectives on Displacement and Resettlement Experiences
Co-edited with equal contribution by Jaime Ballard, Elizabeth Wieling, and Catherine Solheim
Offers an interdisciplinary perspective on immigrant and refugee families' challenges and resilience across multiple domains, including economic, political, health, and human rights.
Information Strategies for Communicators
by Kathleen Hansen and Nora Paul
The definitive text for the information search and evaluation process as practiced by news and strategic communication message producers. Currently used at the University of Minnesota School of Journalism and Mass Communication; JOUR 3004W/V, Information for Mass Communication.
Linear Regression Using R
by David J. Lilja
Linear Regression Using R: An Introduction to Data Modeling presents one of the fundamental data modeling techniques in an informal tutorial style. Learn how to predict system outputs from measured data using a detailed step-by-step process to develop, train, and test reliable regression models. Key modeling and programming concepts are intuitively described using the R programming language. All of the necessary resources are freely available online.
Business & Marketing Textbooks
Business Communication for Success
Business Communication for Success provides a comprehensive, integrated approach to the study and application of written and oral business communication to serve both student and professor with a clear outcome product.
Exploring Business
Exploring Business introduces students to business roles and concepts in an exciting way. This text will help you decide whether business is right for you and, if so, what areas of business you’d like to study further.
Financial Accounting
This book is intended for an undergraduate or MBA level Financial Accounting course. It covers the standard topics in a standard sequence, utilizing the Socratic method of asking and answering questions.
Human Resource Management
This text teaches the HRM strategies and theories that any manager needs to know about recruiting, selecting, training, and compensating people from the perspective of a general manager in addition to an HR manager.
Information Systems: A Manager's Guide to Harness Technology
Information Systems: A Manager’s Guide to Harnessing Technology is intended for use in undergraduate and/or graduate courses in Management Information Systems and Information Technology.
Mastering Strategic Management
You can expect Mastering Strategic Management to cover all of the traditional topics that standard strategic management texts cover, but in an exciting way that will assist you in engaging your students in your course. See for yourself by checking out the book online today.
Organizational Behavior
Organizational Behavior takes a more experiential angle to the material to meet students' needs. The OB Toolbox feature brings life to the concepts and allows students to not only see how the OB theories unfold, but to practice them, as well.
Principles of Economics
Principles of Economics aims to teach considerable range and depth of Economic concepts through an approachable style and methodology. This book is intended for a two-semester course in Economics taught out of the social sciences or business school.
Principles of Macroeconomics
The goal of this textbook is to help students understand how real individuals actually work with economics. In this textbook, the authors illustrate the practicality and relevance of economics with a variety of new illustrations and insights.
Principles of Management
Principles of Management teaches management principles to tomorrow’s business leaders by weaving three threads through every chapter: strategy, entrepreneurship and active leadership. Suits the needs of both undergraduate and graduate courses.
Principles of Marketing
Principles of Marketing teaches the experience and process of actually doing marketing. It carries five dominant themes throughout: Service dominant logic, sustainability, ethics and social responsibility, global coverage, and metrics.
Project Management from Simple to Complex
In a world that is becoming more virtual, more global, and more complex, the project manager's ability to function becomes critical to the success of the project. Project Management from Simple to Complex explores project management within this environment.
Humanities & Social Sciences Textbooks
American Government and Politics in the Information Age
This text is a comprehensive introduction to the vital subject of American government and politics. In covering American government and politics, our text details the branches of government and how they operate; and shows how policies are made and affect people’s lives.
College Success
College Success has a student-friendly format arranged to help students develop the essential skills and provide the information they need to succeed in college. Practical guidance ranging from study skills to personal health, from test taking to managing time and money.
Communication in the Real World: An Introduction to Communication Studies
This book overviews the time-tested conceptual foundations of the field, while incorporating the latest research and cutting-edge applications of these basics.
Criminal Law
Let’s face it, legal textbooks can be dry. This is unfortunate because law, especially criminal law, is an intrinsically compelling topic. Criminal Law employs a variety of instructional techniques that should engage from start to finish.
Introduction to Psychology
Introduction to Psychology utilizes the dual theme of behavior and empiricism to make psychology relevant to intro students. The author wrote this book to help students organize their thinking about psychology at a conceptual level.
Principles of Social Psychology
Provides students with an introduction to the basic concepts and principles of social psychology from an interactionist perspective. The presentation of classic studies and theories are balanced with insights from cutting-edge, contemporary research.
Research Methods in Psychology
While Research Methods in Psychology is fairly traditional, making it easy for you to use with your existing courses, it also emphasizes a fundamental that is often lost on undergraduates: research methods are not a peripheral concern in our discipline; they are central.
Social Problems: Continuity and Change
A realistic but motivating look at the many issues that are facing our society today. As this book’s subtitle, Continuity and Change, implies, social problems are persistent, but they have also improved in the past and can be improved in the present and future.
Sociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World
Makes sociology relevant for today’s students by balancing traditional coverage with a fresh approach that ironically takes them back to sociology’s American roots in the use of sociological knowledge for social reform.
Stand Up, Speak Out: The Practice and Ethics of Public Speaking
Stand up, Speak out: The Practice and Ethics of Public Speaking features two key themes: It focuses on helping students become more seasoned and polished public speakers, it emphasizes ethics.
Understanding Media and Culture: An Introduction to Mass Communication
This text will support an engaging and interesting course experience for students that will show them the powerful social, political and economic forces will affect the future of media technology.
World Regional Geography: People, Places, and Geography
World Regional Geography: People, Places and Globalization is designed for students to experience and study as much of the world as possible within a limited amount of time. It gives students the fundamental concepts and the latest data regarding the world.
Writing for Success
Writing for Success is a text that provides instruction in steps, builds writing, reading, and critical thinking, and combines comprehensive grammar review with an introduction to paragraph writing and composition.
