PREPARED BY: 

Leigh A. Grinstead
Catalyst Fund Program Lead
LYRASIS Innovation & Research
February 16, 2022

PROJECT PARTNERS: 

  • Leigh A. Grinstead, Project Manager
  • Paul Glassman, Grant writer, Yeshiva University
  • Sandy Moore, Instructional Design, Yeshiva University
  • Elinor Grumet, Editor, Yeshiva University

 

LYRASIS, in collaboration with Yeshiva University, has recently published The Alternatives Pilot Project: A LYRASIS Catalyst Fund Research Report.

This report follows the AlterText pilot project and it’s findings. In 2020, Yeshiva University submitted an idea application to the LYRASIS Catalyst Fund. It outlined a community need to address humanities textbook costs by leveraging library resources. During the course of 2020-2021, LYRASIS and Yeshiva University piloted a program to harness academic librarians’ expertise with humanities information resources. Participants reviewed syllabi and re-designed them using open-source documents and resources or referred to as “AlterTexts”. These AlterTexts were already available to students through library full-text subscriptions (periodical literature, electronic reference sources, and relevant chapters from electronic books). LYRASIS worked with faculty and librarians at Lake Sumter State College, Northern Virginia Community College, University of Louisiana, Monroe, and Yeshiva University to pilot the concept. The report is available online in the LYRASIS Research digital repository.