Digital library
Textbooks, references and open learning resources.
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The Information Literacy User's Guide: An Open, Online Textbook
Deborah Bernnard; Greg Bobish; Daryl Bullis; Jenna Hecker · Open SUNY · 2014
Good researchers have a host of tools at their disposal that make navigating today's complex information ecosystem much more manageable. Gaining the knowledge, abilities, and self-reflection necessary to be a good researcher helps not only in academic settings, but is invaluable in any career, and throughout one's life. The Information Literacy User's Guide will start you on this route to success. The Information Literacy User's Guide is based on two current models in information literacy: The 2011 version of The Seven Pillars Model, developed by the Society of College, National and University Libraries in the United Kingdom and the conception of information literacy as a metaliteracy, a model developed by one of this book's authors in conjunction with Thomas Mackey, Dean of the Center for Distance Learning at SUNY Empire State Col- lege.2 These core foundations ensure that the material will be relevant to today's students. The Information Literacy User's Guide introduces students to critical concepts of information literacy as defined for the information-infused and technology-rich environment in which they find themselves. This book helps students examine their roles as information creators and sharers and enables them to more effectively deploy related skills. This textbook includes relatable case studies and scenarios, many hands-on exercises, and interactive quizzes.
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Introduction to Computer Programming with Python
Harris Wang · Athabasca University Press · 2023
This introduction to computer programming with Python begins with some of the basics of computing and programming before diving into the fundamental elements and building blocks of computer programs in Python language. From the installation of Python, Python interactive programming, and integrated development environments to raising and handling exceptions, using compound data types to solve problems, and implement divide-and-conquer processes using functions, classes and modules, this textbook will set students up for success in programming and computing study and practice. The included exercises and projects are designed to hone students’ skills.
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Programming with Java
Ashik Bhuiyan; Md Amiruzzaman · The Pennsylvania Alliance for Design of Open Textbooks (PA-ADOPT) · 2025
Programming with Java is a beginner-friendly eTextbook that introduces readers to the fundamentals of Java, one of the most widely used programming languages. It covers key concepts like syntax, data types, control structures, and object-oriented programming, offering clear explanations and practical examples. The chapters build progressively, making the material accessible even to those with little or no programming background. The book also explores important topics such as exception handling, file I/O, and basic data structures, providing a strong foundation for further computer science studies. With interactive exercises and end-of-chapter projects, readers can apply their knowledge through real-world applications. This eTextbook equips students with the skills they need to confidently take on advanced programming challenges and pursue successful careers in software development.
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Computer Systems Security: Planning for Success
Ryan Tolboom · Ryan Tolboom
The text, labs, and review questions in this book are designed as an introduction to the applied topic of computer security. With these resources students will learn ways of preventing, identifying, understanding, and recovering from attacks against computer systems. This text also presents the evolution of computer security, the main threats, attacks and mechanisms, applied computer operation and security protocols, main data transmission and storage protection methods, cryptography, network systems availability, recovery, and business continuation procedures.
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Pharo by Example 5.0
Stéphane Ducasse; Dmitri Zagidulin; Nicolai Hess; Dimitris Chloupis · Stéphane Ducasse · 2016
Pharo is an open-source, elegant and pure object-oriented language that supports truly immersive and life programming experience. Pharo offers excellent tools such as hot-debuggers and on the fly code update that change the programming experience. More at http://www.pharo.org.Pharo is a powerful language and IDE that companies use to deliver complex business-effective applications. More at: http://www.pharo.org/success In Pharo everything is an object, and anything can change at run-time under your fingers. Pharo is written in itself you can explore a complete world. You can feel and talk to objects. But Pharo does not stop there, with Pharo you can improve your object-oriented skills by rediscovering the essence of object-oriented programming. Pharo by Example 50, intended for both students and developers, will guide you gently through the Pharo language and environment by means of a series of examples and exercises. This book is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 license.
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Squeak by Example
Andrew Black; Stéphane Ducasse; Oscar Nierstrasz; Damien Pollet · University of Bern · 2009
Squeak is a modern open-source development environment for the classic Smalltalk-80 programming language. Despite being the first purely object-oriented language and environment, Smalltalk is in many ways still far ahead of its successors in promoting a vision of an environment where everything is an object, and anything can change at run-time. Squeak by Example, intended for both students and developers, will guide you gently through the Squeak language and environment by means of a series of examples and exercises. The book helps you get started with A Quick Tour of Squeak and guides you through A First Application. The Smalltalk language is introduced in three chapters on Syntax in a Nutshell, Understanding Message Syntax and The Smalltalk Object Model. Development with Squeak is covered in The Squeak Programming Environment and SUnit. Several of the key classes are presented in chapters on Basic Classes, Collections, Streams and Morphic. The first edition of the book concludes with chapters on Classes and Metaclasses and Frequently Asked Questions.
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Digital Circuit Projects: An Overview of Digital Circuits Through Implementing Integrated Circuits
Charles Kann · Gettysburg College · 2014
Digital circuits, often called Integrated Circuits or ICs, are the central building blocks of a Central Processing Unit (CPU). To understand how a computer works, it is essential to understand the digital circuits which make up the CPU. This text introduces the most important of these digital circuits; adders, decoders, multiplexers, D flip-flops, and simple state machines. What makes this textbook unique is that it puts the ability to understand these circuits into the hands of anyone, from hobbyists to students studying Computer Science. This text is designed to teach digital circuits using simple projects the reader can implement. But unlike most lab manuals used in classes in Digital Circuits or Computer Organization classes, this textbook is designed to remove the barrier of a laboratory infrastructure needed in a face-to-face environment at a college or university. This textbook is designed to be used by the reader to create the circuits in their own homes. The textbook is free. The cost of the kits needed to do the labs is reasonable. And the projects are well documented and can be implemented by even novices to electronic projects. This text allows professors to add laboratory projects in digital circuits to students in online classes in Computer Organization. This enhances these classes with interesting and fun exercises that reinforce the classroom topics. This text can also be used by a hobbyist who wants to learn more about digital circuits and how computers work. The material is presented at a level that someone with no experience in digital circuits and electronics can successfully complete the projects, and gain an understanding of the circuits which go into making up a computer.
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Strategic Management and Case Analysis: An Integrated Approach
Lori Anderson; Dirk Buengel; Joseph Simpson · Virginia Tech Publishing · 2025
Strategic Management and Case Analysis: An Integrated Approach is intended for students in undergraduate business programs taking a course in strategic management. Because strategic management synthesizes many business topics and takes a holistic view of business, strategic management courses are often senior-level capstone courses. Most undergraduate business school students begin their business education with a broad introductory business course and then concentrate on courses in their major. Then they return to a broader lens of business to cap off their business education at a higher-level of learning. This textbook supports this level of comprehensive learning. If used with a senior-level capstone course, this textbook supports seniors to synthesize their business education through the lens of strategic management and helps them understand how businesses become successful by leveraging their competitive advantage. This textbook integrates strategic management and case analysis, with cases linked from an open access collection of business strategy cases, RMIT Strategic Management Case Studies. Students will get the most out of this textbook if it is used with cases that students analyze. Strategic Management and Case Analysis: An Integrated Approach, integrates strategic management as a research-led field of study and practice-informed area of business practice with an experiential learning approach to conducting a case analysis. The book explains how strategic leaders and managers analyze their firm’s organizational performance, and external and internal environments; formulate corporate level and business level strategy, and innovation, sustainability and ethics, technology, and multinational strategy, which are embedded in business level strategies; and implement strategy across an organization. Students are in an active and engaged role with the subject and practice of strategic management as they apply the theories, concepts, and analytical frameworks and t
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Introduction to Business
Lawrence Gitman; Carl McDaniel; Amit Shah; Monique Reece · OpenStax · 2026
Introduction to Business 2e provides a strong, multidimensional foundation in the concepts, skills, and real-world examples of contemporary business. Welcoming and relevant narratives support students as they engage in core themes such as decision making, ethics, customer satisfaction, entrepreneurship, global business, and managing technological and societal changes. The material includes hundreds of current business examples from a range of industries and geographic locations. Extensive illustrations, case studies, review materials, and assessments offer instructors and learners the tools needed to develop a deep, practical understanding. The outcome is a balanced approach to the theory and application of business concepts, with attention to the knowledge and skills necessary for success in further studies and careers. The Second Edition was written with extensive input from faculty, industry experts, and students. Revisions focus on currency, emerging technologies, changing business practices, and evolving legal and ethical dynamics. The authors emphasize course-wide themes, including the impacts and implications of artificial intelligence, the changing nature of the workplace, and new approaches to team dynamics. A detailed transition guide is available in the instructor resources.
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Financial Empowerment
Bettina Schneider · University of Regina · 2024
Financial Empowerment is designed for a single-semester introduction to financial planning and decision-making, in order to provide first and second-year students with the necessary financial literacy and skills needed to make sound financial decisions, assess financial risk, and achieve financial success. This textbook attempts to speak to the varied backgrounds, knowledge systems, and experiences of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canadians by providing Indigenous and non-Indigenous perspectives on personal finance and financial planning using examples and information from Elders, the Canadian financial system, and the economy. Additional OER can be found at https://ctl.uregina.ca/open-education/publications-catalogue
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The Path to Funding: The Artist’s Guide to Building Your Audience, Generating Income, and Realizing Career Sustainability
Zane Forshee; Christina Manceor; Robin McGinness · The Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University · 2022
Based on coursework developed at Peabody Conservatory, this book breaks down the process of developing an artist mission statement, generating new ideas for creative projects, and creating an engaging project description. It also covers methods for artists to identify their audience, generate a comprehensive project budget, collect compelling work samples, and identify potential funders to support their creative work. Written by a team of active artists and educators, this resource provides creatives with tools and strategies to communicate passionately and effectively about their work and take control of their financial and artistic future.
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Business Writing Style Guide
John Morris; Julie Zwart · Oregon State University · 2020
It is the goal of this book to help students do the following:• Apply basic concepts for effective and concise business writing.• Compile a well written report acceptable within a business context.• Follow a writing process designed for business students.• Demonstrate critical thinking, reasoning, and persuasion.• Communicate in writing using a business model.• Apply resources for improving business writing skills.
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Technical Project Management in Living and Geometric Order
Jeffrey Russell; Wayne Pferdehirt; John Nelson; Brian Price · University of Wisconsin - Madison · 2018
The Technical Project Management class is designed to help students build on their past experiences and develop effective strategies for managing complex technical projects, with an emphasis on applying project management concepts to real-world problems. In the weekly web conferences, the class comes together in community to discuss the lesson topics, considering the practical applications of the concepts in each subject area.
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Human Relations
Laura Dias · LibreTexts · 2012
Human Relations by Laura Portolese-Dias addresses all of the critical topics to obtain career success as they relate to professional relationships. Knowing how to get along with others, resolve workplace conflict, manage relationships, communicate well, and make good decisions are all critical skills all students need to succeed in career and in life. Human Relations is not an organizational behavior; rather, it provides a good baseline of issues students will deal with in their careers on a day-to-day basis. It is also not a professional communications, business English, or professionalism textbook, as its focus is much broader — on general career success and how to effectively maneuver in the workplace. From communication challenges to focusing on one's own emotional intelligence, the examples throughout Human Relations will help students understand the importance of the human side in their career. This book's easy-to-understand language and tone is written to convey practical information in an engaging way. Every chapter opens with a realistic example which introduces a concept to be explained in detail later. Each chapter contains relevant examples, YouTube videos, figures, learning objectives, key takeaways, exercises, and a chapter-ending case that offer different ways to promote learning. Many of the end-of-section exercises offer self-assessment quizzes, so students may engage in self-understanding and development.
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Technical and Professional Writing Genres: A Study in Theory and Practice
Eric Howerton; Michael Beilfuss; Katrina Peterson; Staci Bettes · Oklahoma State University · 2019
This modern, open-source guide to technical and professional writing explores workplace composition through theoretical and practical applications. Discussions of multiple writing genres will assist you in understanding how to apply for jobs, how to compose clear and precise business communications once the job has been acquired, and how to create documents -- such as proposals and reports -- that will be instrumental in helping to advance your career.
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Introduction to the Law of Property, Estate Planning and Insurance
Don Mayer; Daniel Warner; George Siedel; Jethro Lieberman · Saylor Foundation · 2012
Introduction to the Law of Property, Estate Planning and Insurance is an up-to-date textbook that covers legal issues that students must understand relating to real estate (an especially important business asset), as well as estate planning and insurance. The text is organized to permit instructors to tailor the materials to their particular approach. The authors take special care to engage students by relating law to everyday events with their clear, concise and readable style. After introductory chapters covering the legal environment of business, Introduction to the Law of Property, Estate Planning and Insurance provides students with context and essential legal concepts relating to property rights and duties, estate planning, insurance, secured transactions, mortgages, and related topics. The text provides the vocabulary and legal savvy they will need when working with these concepts, which are critical to business planning and success.
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Corporate Governance
Cornelis de Kluyver · Saylor Foundation · 2012
Corporate Governance by de Kluyver is a primer on corporate governance. It is designed to help students understand corporate governance by looking at the subject from both a macro- and micro-perspective. Historical data and examples including the recent scandals that have torn the fabric of capitalism pave a pathway to the principal challenges facing today's corporate boards, and how to successfully manage them. Topics Include: Clear coverage on why proper corporate governance has become a moral imperative and how to corporations achieve it. Discussions on recent governance reforms in the United States. Outlines of the roles that each individual in the corporate governance process must take on and how to effectively execute on those roles. Exploration on the future of corporate governance in the epilogue Take some time to review Corporate Governance by de Kluyver to see if it is a good fit for your strategy courses.
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Electronic Commerce: The Strategic Perspective
Richard Watson; Pierre Berthon; Leyland Pitt; George Zinkhan · BCcampus · 2014
This book is written both for practitioners and business students. Managers wishing to understand how electronic commerce is revolutionizing business will find that our comprehensive coverage of essential business issues (e.g., pricing and distribution) answers many of their questions. Advanced business students (junior, seniors, and graduate students) will find that the blend of academic structure and practical examples provides an engaging formula for learning. The book's title reflects some key themes that we develop. First, we are primarily concerned with electronic commerce, which we define as using technology (e.g., the Internet) to communicate or transact with stakeholders (e.g., customers). Second, we discuss how organizations must change in order to take advantage of electronic commerce opportunities. In this sense, our book offers the strategic perspective (i.e., the best way to operate a successful business in the 21st century). Third, with the growing importance of the Internet and related technologies, organizations must take electronic commerce into account when they are creating strategic plans. Thus, electronic commerce is a strategic perspective that all firms must adopt, both in the present and in the future. In other words, an organization that does not explicitly consider electronic commerce as a strategic imperative is probably making a crucial error. Here, we focus primarily on the opportunities and tactics that can lead to success in the electronic marketplace.
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Strategic Management
Kennedy Reed · Virginia Tech Publishing · 2020
STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT offers an introduction to the key topics and themes of strategic management. The authors draw on examples of familiar companies and personalities to illustrate the different strategies used by today’s firms—and how they go about implementing those strategies. Students will learn how to conduct a case analysis, measure organizational performance, and conduct external and internal analyses. In short, they will understand how organizations operate at the strategic level to be successful. An older version of Mastering Strategic Management (2015) by University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing can be found here: https://open.lib.umn.edu/strategicmanagement/
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Business English for Success
Scott McLean · Saylor Foundation · 2011
Business English for Success is a creative solution to a common challenge across Business Communication courses: Business English or Business Presentations? Some classes place an equal emphasis on oral and written communication. If that's the case for you check out our text Business Communication for Success. If, however, your class places the emphasis squarely on written communication and writing proficiency, then Business English for Success is for you. Business English for Success provides instruction in steps, builds writing, reading, and critical thinking, and combines comprehensive grammar review with an introduction to paragraph writing and composition. This step-by-step approach provides a clear path to student-centered learning. A wide range of writing levels and abilities are addressed, helping each student prepare for the next writing or university course. The text opens with a discussion on the sentence and then breaks it down into its elemental components, before reconstructing them into effective sentences, paragraphs, and larger assignments. Then, starting in Chapter 9: Effective Business Writing, the discussion applies lessons learned from the previous foundational chapters into common business issues and applications. From paraphrasing and plagiarism to style to the research process, the expectations increase as several common business documents are presented, including text messages and e-mail, memorandums and letters, the business proposal, business report, resume, and the sales message. This textbook has been used in classes at:Arizona Western College, Hostos Community College, Virginia State University, Truckee Meadows Community College, San Jose State University, Concordia University - Irvine, University New Brunswick - Fredericton, Cerritos College, University of Houston - Downtown, Flat World Knowledge University, A-C Central High School, University of The People, Truckee Meadows Community College, Danville Community High School