Open Textbooks

Karen Farrellfor the Robert E Kennedy Library

OMG Textbooks1. Didn’t something pass in California recently, regarding 50 open (freely available) textbooks???2. College bookstores usually sell used copies too3. amazon.com sells used4. half.com (part of ebay) has a whole section of used textbooks5. Barnes and Noble has textbook rental options6. Google either the title in quotes or the ISBN number to find other possible sources7. check out digital copies through itunes or amazon to see if they are available. they are cheaper than new

if they're available, but not necessarily cheaper than used. they're also still a work in progress. reading novels on them is pretty straightforward, but if you want to take notes or go back and review pages, it can be more work. Also, there's no rule for whether there will be page numbers, which can make reading assigned pages, referencing pages in papers, etc. more difficult. I have a Kindle, which I like reading on just fine - it's simple, holds a charge for a really long time, and isn't hard on my eyes, plus easy to carry around. But I've done a couple of textbooks/school books with it, and always found it more painful than print...but it is cheaper.

8. there may be email list-servs for students at his school with listings for students selling their copies of textbooks

9. Check for old-school ways that people advertise selling used books - like notes posted on a bulletin board. If they have social media (Facebook) he could ask there and see if anyone has suggestions or insight.

10. The library may keep multiple copies on reserve. He can check on the website.11. If he doesn’t have a school login yet, worldcat.org is an international library catalog. I don't know how

many libraries will carry textbooks that aren’t already being reserved for their own students, but you can certainly see if it's possible to get a copy through interlibrary loan by checking the website.

What is OER?

• Education, learning, teaching

• Public domain• Intellectual property

license allowing free use, reuse, distribution, & modification

Intellectual Property

• Standard Copyright– “all rights reserved”

• Public domain• Fair Use limitation• Alternative licensing

options– Creative Commons– GNU Public License

©

Creative Commons License

• “some rights reserved”• range of ready-made

licensing options– Attribution (CC BY)– Share Alike (SA)– Non-commercial (NC)– No derivatives (ND)

• “all rights granted”

Open Textbooks

“Japanese Textbooks” by Asahiko, used under CC BY-SA license

Open Textbook Benefits

• Up-to-date information• Ability to modify to suit

needs• Increase sharing &

speed of research ✚

Finding Open Textbooks

Open Textbook Issues

Quality & Peer-review

California OER Law SB 1052 & 1053

• California Open Education Resources Council (COERC)

• California Open Source Digital Library• 50 most common lower division courses• Must use Creative Commons license

California OER Law SB 1052 & 1053

SB 1052: “These provisions would become operative only if funding for the purposes of this bill is provided in the annual Budget Act or another statute, or through federal or private funds, or through a combination of state, federal, and private funds.”

COERC Report: “no funds have been allocated to make COERC operational, and COERC has made no further progress”

Open Textbook Sources

• DigitalCommons@CalPoly• Merlot• UMinn Open Textbook Catalog• OpenStax• College Open Textbooks• Open Textbook Store• Bookboon• OER Commons• Boundless

Thank you!