Dear UNBC community,

As you may know, the Government of Canada has issued a Notice of Intent to Impose Countermeasures in Response to US Tariffs on Canadian Goods. The 25% retaliatory tariff will take effect April 2nd, 2025, and this will include print books/textbooks. Unfortunately, even Canadian material is often printed and distributed by the US. The tariff will not only impact the UNBC Library’s print book collection but will also increase the cost of textbooks for students.

To help our students with these increased costs to their education, we recommend that faculty consider utilizing open educational resources, open textbooks, and/or to work with the UNBC Library to obtain electronic copies (if available).  The CTLT and Library can help you navigate and recommend resources for your courses that will keep costs lower for students. This information will also be available in our Faculty Orientation Handbook and on the CTLT website. 

To help with your decision-making we have provided a few resources:

• Open Educational Resources Library Guide 

• Textbook Alternatives Library Guide 

• Consult with your program's Subject Librarian to explore course reading options

• BCcampus Open “The B.C. Open Collection is a curated selection of open educational resources (OER) that can be accessed by educators in B.C. and beyond to use in the classroom, in an institutional learning management system, or on other teaching and learning platforms. All materials are openly licensed. This means they are free to use, customize, and share. The collection includes courses and textbooks, and new resources are being added all the time. To find out when new OER are added to the collection in your subject area, subscribe to the BCcampus newsletter.