Report: Textbook affordability a top faculty concern https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2024/02/16/report-textbook-affordability-top-faculty-concern

(2/2) The upshot? The library budget will only permit us to buy a print copy to place on the reserve shelf. This means that students must visit the library in person and use the book on site during our open hours. Due to staffing cuts, we are open 30 fewer hours per week this year than we have been in the past. Students who are overextended with jobs and family responsibilities, students in online programs, commuter students, students who need access to a screenreader-compatible edition of the book, athletes whose classes and practices take up most of the hours that the library is open: all are all so out of luck. #textbookequity

Library ebook pricing is an equity issue for college students who cannot afford to purchase assigned texts. (I'm speaking here of monographs other than textbooks, which come with entirely different access/market implications.) Often, even for a single-user ebook (which would be the equivalent of having a print copy on the reserve shelf, in terms of access model and effect on market), the cost to license a library ebook is wildly prohibitive. Today, for example, a professor asked whether the library could provide access to a $47 paperback as an ebook. For a single user ebook license, the publisher charges libraries $680. (An individual would pay $44.60 to purchase the ebook or $22.59 for a six-month rental.) An unlimited user license, which I could certainly see paying much more for given the potential effect on the market, is not available for libraries for this title. Most library budgets have not been increased to cover this order-of-magnitude increase in cost. (1/2)

This #OpenAccess week, we're highlighting two open textbook initiatives in the great Commonwealth of Massachusetts: (1) Open Massachusetts: A Public Higher Education Repository: https://oercommons.org/hubs/masscc and (2) the ROTEL (Remixing Open Textbooks through an Equity Lens) Project: https://rotelproject.org/ Go, Massachusetts colleagues!

"Creating Positive College Campus Racial Climates for Students of Color" https://edtrust.org/college-campus-racial-climates/ (via Inside Higher Ed: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2023/10/25/poor-campus-climate-white-institutions-report-says)

Looking for OER written and/or used by faculty in the MA Public Higher Ed sector? Check out Open Massachusetts: A Public Higher Education Repository | OER Commons https://oercommons.org/hubs/masscc #OER #OpenEducation #OpenEd

“Social Data Analysis: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches” -- RIC’s First Open Textbook Written by Faculty Debuts | Rhode Island College https://www.ric.edu/news-events/news/rics-first-open-textbook-written-faculty-debuts“Social Data Analysis: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches.” #oer #sociology #OpenEducation #OpenEd

‘Too greedy’: mass walkout at global science journal over ‘unethical’ fees https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/may/07/too-greedy-mass-walkout-at-global-science-journal-over-unethical-fees

2023 Connecticut #OER Summit, 3/6-10. Flexible schedule! Sign up and attend all sessions, some, or just one! https://events.eventzilla.net/e/2023-ct-oer-summit-2138602705

U.S. Open Textbook Pilot Program Renewed for Sixth Year, via @txtbks / SPARC: https://sparcopen.org/news/2022/u-s-open-textbook-pilot-program-renewed-for-sixth-year/ #OER #OpenEd #TextbookEquity #OpenEducation

Open Oregon shares thoughts on four OER challenges facing faculty and institutions in 2023: worth a read! https://openoregon.org/updates-on-the-future-for-2023/ #OER #textbooks #TextbookEquity #highered

Via Wiki Education: Learn how you and your students can tackle knowledge equity this term by running a Wikipedia assignment https://wikiedu.org/teach-with-wikipedia/ #OpenEducation #OpenEd