Missouri State University will be hosting the 6^th Annual Missouri A&OER Conference on March 6, 2025. Registration ends on March 5. A&OER stands for Affordable and Open Educational Resources, and it’s a concept that conference chair and MSU library faculty member Tracy Stout is passionate about.

After attending a distance library services conferences several years ago where the keynote speaker talked about OER, Stout came home to Missouri State University and started learning more and getting involved in the national community. Her affinity for it comes from a desire for equity in higher education

“Everybody has to buy the textbook, but if you don’t have the same money, you don’t have the same education,” she said. “OER made things equitable for everybody because it was free.”

And when publications cannot be made fully OER compliant, affordable textbooks help to level the playing field.

Abbey Elder, Open Access and Scholarly Communications Librarian at Iowa State University, has agreed to be the keynote for this year’s A&OER Conference. Stout selected her for the position after interacting with her at another conference.

“She is a leader in their state. And she’s great at bringing people together to collaborate on OER projects and that’s kind of what our conference theme is—OER: The Blueprint for Success. And she’s really good at that type of thing—bringing campus groups together and bringing state groups together.”

To register for the conference, please visit this link and click on the registration tab on the lefthand side.