It's Academic

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The cost of college textbooks is a growing problem in academia.    In 2017, the average student spent $1,200 on textbooks.  At community colleges, like the one I work at, this extra cost is especially difficult for students to bear.  High costs cause many students to not purchase their textbooks, which hinders their academic performance.

Libraries are trying to improve this situation by helping faculty adopt open educational resources (OER) to replace traditional textbooks.  OER are freely available learning materials that replace or supplement the textbook for a course.  So, what are some of the methods librarians can use to help faculty adopt OER?  Below I will outline my own experiences helping faculty at Pennsylvania Highlands Community College.

• Replace the textbook with an open textbook – This is the simplest way to adopt OER. Faculty at several intuitions are making textbooks and publishing them online for anyone to use.  Openstax is one example of this.  They have excellent textbooks on most general education subjects.   By comparing the previous textbook or syllabus for a class to the open texts available I’ve been able to suggest replacement textbooks for faculty.  Of course, not every subject is covered and there is no guarantee that an instructor will approve of the available open textbooks.
• Replace the text using the Library eBook Collection: Online eBook collections may also be an option to replace textbooks.  I worked with a history professor who required students to read a monograph on WWI as part of his course.    I used my library EBSCO eBooks Collection to find a suitable replacement book on WWI.  We verified that the book allowed for unlimited concurrent access so that the whole class could use it at once.   By embedding a link to the eBook within the course LMS page students had easy access to it.
• Replace the textbooks with several different materials – One instructor reached out to me about the possibility of using an OER textbook for her class. Unfortunately, no open texts were available for this subject.  Instead, I was able to help the instructor adopt OER by working with them to find journal articles, websites, videos, podcasts, book chapters, and other materials they could use to replace the text.  This variety of materials was grouped by subject and placed in the course LMS page to allow student access.  This method requires more work by library staff and faculty involved, but it does give you an extra option to use OER in courses where no open textbook exists.  Using a variety of learning materials may have pedagogical benefits as well.
• Create a copyright free collection – I worked with an English professor who required students to purchase a collection of poetry. The entire text was made up of older works that were out of copyright.  I ended up creating a large PDF which included all the poems required and could be easily posted on the course LMS page.  Resources like Project Gutenberg were helpful for this particular project.  I also used this method for a history class that featured a collection of readings from primary texts dating to the 1700s.

These are a few of the methods I have used to encourage OER adoption at my college.  Have you tried similar things at your library?    Do you have any questions for me?  Let me know in the comments.

In a webinar titled “Flexibility Without Complexity: A Demo of How WMS Can Meet Your Library’s Needs,” OCLC Solutions Strategist Amy Lytle discusses the many advantages of being one of the 600 libraries worldwide (in at least twenty countries) using WorldShare® Management Services (WMS). Lytle starts off by saying that OCLC exists to serves libraries, with the WorldCat® database being the heart of WMS. Its appeal starts with the fact that WMS, which was introduced in 2011, is a cloud-based library services platform, a cloud which is actually owned by OCLC and has not gone the route of say, Amazon or Google. WMS is a complete library services platform which provides for the streamlining of all essential library functions, such as acquiring, describing, discovering, circulating, sharing, and analyzing data. Subscribers to WMS can expect the traditional applications, such as OPAC, cataloging, acquisitions, circulation, serials, reporting, and interlibrary loan. However, much more is included with a WMS subscription, some of which libraries may be paying separately for, such as discovery layer, evaluative content, an integrated mobile interface (WorldCat® Discovery is built using responsive design, since there is not a separate URL or app.), and WMS’ very own Digby mobile app, which aids with circulation and inventory tasks. Additionally, course reserves are included and an item scheduling module is part of circulation. A knowledge base provides its users with an integrated open URL resolver and from that knowledge base, WMS built an automatic A to Z list. Authority updates are provided at no additional cost for the service. WMS is committed to providing continuous training as well as ongoing updates.

How does WMS allow its subscribers to do things differently? WMS reduces IT support and simplifies library operations because there is no hardware to purchase or software to manage. This saves both money and time, freeing up the staff’s time to tackle higher priorities. WMS improves discovery for your users and visibility for your library or group. It informs decisions to prove your library’s value through integrated custom reports which can be run at any time. Finally, WMS can future-proof your library with a next-generation system, since it is formed on a modern platform which has a strong commitment to reliability, security, and safeguarding your private data.

WorldCat® is quite impressive. A new record is added to WorldCat® every second, and as of November 2018, there were 442 million records and over 2.7 billion holdings! (Lytle now reports that the holdings have increased, three months later when this presentation was recorded, to well over 2.9 billion. As I write this in early March, I can only imagine that that number has surpassed 3 billion.)