OSU Libraries Offer Open Access Etextbooks To Students

Oregon State University (OSU) is helping faculty produce their own open access textbooks for courses. The university press, an arm of the OSU libraries, is starting work on a series of open access e-textbooks that officials hope will ease the rising textbook costs that are a consistent cause of student complaints. To make the etextbook program work, the library and press are partnering with OSU’s Ecampus program, which administers distance and online learning programs for the college.

OSU library director Faye Chadwell, whose background is in collections management, said the collaboration gives libraries a new way to help students with the cost of textbooks, and one that is meaningful compared to offering books on reserve, a “drop in the bucket” solution that she said doesn’t scale effectively to meet demand. “I’m used to student groups coming in and asking if we can help with the cost of books,” Chadwell told Library Journal. “Now that we’re in a position where libraries have begun to look at the possibility of publishing services, and especially when you have a press present in the library, we can do more.”

Depending on the subject, students could save anywhere from $50 to $250 by using an open access etextbook instead of a traditional print one. Chadwell also pointed out that the new texts are designed with modularity in mind, noting that students are regularly required to purchase textbooks for a course only to learn they will only read a chapter or two during the class.