How Instructors Can Create or Customize Textbooks on LibreTexts

Instructors can build a custom textbook on LibreTexts by remixing chapters from the platform's existing textbook libraries with their own material, then embedding interactive elements such as ADAPT homework questions, Jupyter Notebooks, 3D visualizations, and videos directly into the text. LibreTexts describes itself as a non-profit open education resource (OER) platform for creating, customizing, and sharing accessible, interactive textbooks and ancillary materials, and it organizes content into "Curatatories" — centralized repositories built for seamless creation, remixing, and discovery. The approach fits instructors who want to assemble course materials from openly licensed content rather than adopt a single publisher textbook as-is.

What you have to work with

LibreTexts reports the following scale on its home page:

The 17 subject libraries and 2,000+ textbooks are the pool you draw from when remixing. Because the content is openly licensed, you can pull a chapter from one book, a chapter from another, and combine them with material you write yourself into a single custom textbook.

The customization workflow

1. Locate source material

Start in the subject library closest to your course and identify the textbooks and chapters that cover your topics. The platform's stated purpose for Curatatories is to make this creation, remixing, and discovery process centralized rather than scattered across separate sites.

2. Remix chapters and add your own content

LibreTexts explicitly supports the ability to "remix multiple different textbook chapters from different books and your own material to make a custom textbook." In practice this means selecting the chapters you want, arranging them in your course order, and inserting your own explanations, examples, or local requirements where the source material doesn't fit.

3. Embed interactive elements

You can embed the following directly into textbook pages:

• ADAPT homework questions — drawn from the shared bank of 240,000+ openly licensed elements, with pre-built high-quality assessments plus personalized learning models and customization options
• Jupyter Notebooks — for computational or data-driven exercises
• 3D visualizations
• Videos

ADAPT is described as an adaptive homework system with a "unique blend of pre-built, high-quality assessments alongside personalized learning models," and new question and activity types are continually being developed. Embedding these in the textbook means students move between reading and practice without leaving the material.

4. Use ancillary material where it fits

Beyond the textbook itself, LibreTexts points to case studies, lab experiments, and interactive modules as supporting content you can incorporate.

Support for getting started

LibreTexts offers professional development and training designed to equip the community with the skills to use its technology ecosystem (the "LibreVerse"). It also runs a monthly webinar series, listed under Upcoming Events, which is a low-commitment way to see the platform in operation before committing to a build. The organization states that it collaborates with individuals and organizations on institutional publishing programs and curriculum development projects, so instructors working at the department or institution level may be able to get support beyond self-service.

Where instructors typically get stuck

• Choosing a starting point. With 17 libraries and 2,000+ textbooks, the first decision is whether to remix an existing book or assemble from multiple sources. Remixing a single strong book and editing it is usually faster than building from scratch.
• Licensing hygiene. The platform's premise is openly licensed content, but when you combine sources, keep track of which material came from where so attribution stays intact in the remixed result.
• Assessment alignment. ADAPT's bank is large, but the value comes from matching questions to your specific learning objectives rather than assigning whatever is available.
• Scope creep. Because embedding notebooks, visualizations, and video is possible, it's easy to over-build. Add interactive elements where they replace a genuine gap, not everywhere.

Is this the right fit for your course?

LibreTexts is a reasonable choice if you want to lower student cost, need to combine material from several sources, or want homework and reading in one place. It's a weaker fit if your course depends on a proprietary textbook's specific sequencing, or if you need a finished product with no assembly work. The platform's own framing — "10 times the power at a fraction of the cost" — signals that its pitch is cost reduction plus flexibility, not a turnkey single textbook.