Tag Archives: open textbook

Academic, General, School Media Specialist

Minnesota joins the Open Textbook Library movement

alejandroescamilla-bookDid you hear that scream of joy from students across the state of Minnesota? Did the Vikings win? The Gophers? Maybe… Or maybe it was because of the recent announcement that Minnesota has joined the Open Text Book movement! This is part of the Open Textbook Library, a website that pulls together open access books in one place. “Those are not books we’re creating,” said David Ernst, chief information officer at the University of Minnesota’s College of Education. “Open textbooks have been published for years. We’re just putting them in one place.”

Ernst explained further: “The students can save thousands of dollars on the cost of their education, and professors and instructors can easily customize the books to their lesson plans without worrying about infringing on copyrighted material.” As the Open Textbook Library website explains, the “Open textbooks are real, complete textbooks licensed so teachers and students can freely use, adapt, and distribute the material.” CMLE has talked about Open Textbooks before. No longer a fad, open textbooks are a way to help students keep a little more money in their pockets without taking away from the quality of their education.

Read the whole article now or check out the Open Textbook Library.

Academic, General

Academic Libraries offer Open Textbooks

Library booksCampus bookstores beware, there’s a new textbook provider in town: Academic Libraries! But instead of long lines, high costs, and lousy buy-back prices, campus libraries are providing open textbooks.

One example is at Portland State University (PSU). Recently “Portland State University Library announced the publication of five open textbooks authored by PSU faculty for PSU students. In their first term of use, these textbooks saved students more than $23,800.” Rather than being a barrier to education, these open textbooks are a prime example of the possibilities of synergy between faculty, staff, and the library on a campus.

Another example is at Louisiana State University (LSU). “The LSU Library is promoting a new program that enables students in more than 100 courses to access electronic textbooks, rather than having to purchase costly printed ones. The change represents significant savings for students, who typically shell out several hundred dollars each semester on textbooks. E-textbooks are free.”

Is there a future for campus bookstores? What do you think?

Image credit: http://tinyurl.com/kbxol2x, licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0