Open SUNY Textbooks provides open textbooks and publishing services. It is a collaboration between 13 SUNY campuses and 8 SUNY libraries. The project is funded through grants and library contributions. It has published 7 textbooks from its first round and has another 9 in progress from its second round. The original model used Open Monograph Press, but it was determined that WordPress would better meet their needs like having a mobile responsive design, custom taxonomies, and analytics tracking. The site was rebuilt in WordPress and now tracks downloads and provides statistics. Future plans include integrating with other open textbook platforms and assessment of textbook adoption rates.

1. Open SUNY Textbooks:
Open Textbooks and Textbook Publishing Services
textbooks.opensuny.org
Leah Root
Publishing and Web Services Developer, SUNY Geneseo
Allison Brown
Editor and Production Manager, SUNY Geneseo

2. Publishing Model
Faculty Authors Library Publishers Open Access e-book

3. 13 SUNY campuses with OST authors

4. 8 SUNY libraries providing support
Geneseo
Brockport
Monroe Community College
College of Environmental Sciences and Forestry
Fredonia
Oswego
University at Buffalo
Upstate Medical Library

5. $
Grant funding: $80,000
Library partner contributions: $40,000
Covered Author/Reviewer compensation
Operational expenses covered in the SUNY Geneseo
library budget.

6. Progress

7. Progress
Round 2
12 authors
1 already published!
deadline was Jan 15: 5 on-time
submissions
6 currently in peer review
4 in revision
1 writing
Round 1
15 authors
7 published
4 books beginning production &
estimated publication this spring
(writing, business, math & music
education)
4 in review or revision stage

8. Original workflow
Open Monograph Press
publication proposal submission
editorial workflow
peer review
serving content
public facing website

9. Original workflow
Google Analytics
Site traffic statistics
Events

10. What we needed:
● Mobile responsive
layout

11. What we needed:
● Custom taxonomy
○ Authors
○ Keywords/
Subject
○ Affiliation

12. What we needed:
● Custom taxonomy
○ Authors
○ Keywords/
Subject
○ Affiliation

13. What we needed:
● Custom taxonomy
○ Authors
○ Keywords/
Subject
○ Affiliation

14. What we needed:
● Ability to link
to 3rd party publishers
● Ability to display
and link metadata

15. What we needed:
● Author bio pages
● Author’s work
listed on bio pages
● Ability for Authors
to add and edit
their own bios,
social media links,
and photos

16. What we needed:
● Flexible
administrator
and user roles

17. What we needed:
● “Friendly” URLs
● descriptive
● analytics friendly
● author-friendly
http://subdomain.reallylongname.com/omp/index.php/another/supe
rlongpathname/catalog/download/another-path/172/83/608-
3%20%
VS.
http://textbooks.opensuny.org/literature-humanities-humanity/

18. What we needed:
● Ability to track and
distinguish EPUB
and PDF downloads

19. What we needed:
● Create reports of
download counts
on the fly
● Supplement
to Google Analytics
● Display real-time stats
on our site

20. What we needed:
● To display the download
counts in a modern way.
● Statistics have come a long
way since hit counters of
the 1990s

21. We can do
all these
things with
WordPress!
Home page
Desktop view
Home page
Portrait mobile
phone view

22. What’s done
● Built a mobile
responsive
theme
● Chock full of
content
types, fields,
and functions
● Imported our
textbook description,
metadata,
and static page
content

23. What’s done
● Installed Download Monitor Plugin
● logs date and time
● logs device, browser, OS
● logs IP address
● can log email address or
member status
● PDFs and EPUBs can be replaced;
download counts remain intact

24. What’s done
● Workflow for user:
○ Add textbook
description
○ Add keywords/subjects
using WordPress’
built-in tags
○ Select from authors;
can arrange order

25. What’s done
● Workflow for user:
○ Add SUNY Affiliation via
custom taxonomy
and custom fields
○ Add Table of Contents
via custom fields
○ Add metadata via
custom fields

26. What’s done
● Workflow for user:
○ Upload PDFs and EPUBs
‘drag and drop’ style
○ Add urls for external
publishing sites
○ “Publish Date” set to
textbook publication date

27. What’s done
● Installed Google
Analytics Plugin
● Along with
Download Monitor,
stats can be displayed as
customizable widgets
in the WordPress
Dashboard

28. What’s done
● Wrote queries and
functions
returning EPUB
and PDF totals
and averages,
grouped them by
publication title

29. What’s done
● “Cool factor:”
Incorporated
Google Analytics
Geo IP map showing
locations of visitors
(also matches up with
IP addresses of file
downloads)
This is cool

30. What’s done
● Function displaying
EPUB and PDF
combined
download counts
on respective book’s
page

31. Challenges
● Notifying authors, libraries,
colleges, and Open Textbook
related organizations of our changes
● Redirection of textbook
URLs and landing pages
● Spam-free stats: IP and bot
blocking but allow
legitimate users

32. Discovery
● Majority of readers are
still using traditional desktops
or laptops to view publications
● Windows most popular OS
for desktops and laptops
● Apple iOS most popular
OS for mobile devices
● Phones are used more than tablets

33. Discovery
● One of our most popular textbooks is
part of a Coursera MOOC
● Other popular textbooks are
listed on Amazon and many
external websites,such as library
sites and directories
● Downloads peak during the
start of semester, beginning of
a course, or beginning of month

34. Discovery
● PDFs more popular than EPUB
○ possibly because people are
still downloading and reading
with traditional pcs and desktops
○ possibly because readers
may download and print
textbooks themselves

35. Discovery
● PDFs more popular than EPUB
○ possibly because EPUB
is still not a widely
understood format
so misunderstood?
=

36. What’s done
● Page listing
recommended browsers
and readers
● Explanation
of EPUB format

37. Future Plans
● Customize the backend dashboard and workflow
● Develop API to export book metadata from OMP to WordPress;
not necessary until we have a larger volume of publications
● Integrate with Pressbooks, CommentPress, and or other WordPress based
platforms
● Integrate itunes, Amazon, and Lulu stats and display along with our direct
download stats

38. Other assessment

39. Textbook Adoption

40. Textbook Adoption

41. 8 classes taught by authors: approx. 2,200 students
43 other classes report that they use Open SUNY Textbooks
2014-15 Academic year

42. ● Author involvement
○ Soliciting feedback
○ Communication/marketing within professional
societies
○ Student engagement
● Team approach
Adoption indicators

44. I thoroughly enjoyed
reading, editing, and
making recommendations
on the manuscript I was
provided and would
welcome opportunities to
do it again in the future.
Our Research and
Information Skills Lab has
adapted the book and is
using it. This is a course
that all freshmen are
required to take. Thanks
for all your hard work!
The new website looks
very cool!

45. Open SUNY Textbooks:
Open Textbooks and Textbook Publishing Services
textbooks.opensuny.org
Leah Root - rootl@geneseo.edu
Publishing and Web Services Developer, SUNY Geneseo
Allison Brown - browna@geneseo.edu
Editor and Production Manager, SUNY Geneseo

46. Peer review
1. Update guidelines
2. Learn what was most helpful
3. Learn ways to improve

47. Were the guidelines provided clear and
useful?
Surveying Reviewers

48. The reviewer demonstrated an
understanding of the content
and purpose of the text
The reviewer provided constructive
suggestions that led to strong revisions
Surveying Authors

49. In comparison to other reviews you’ve
received in the past, how would you rate
the overall usefulness and quality of your
Open SUNY Textbook review?
Surveying Authors

50. Peer review: Outcomes
1. Update guidelines
2. Learn what was most helpful
3. Learn ways to improve

51. Peer review: Outcomes
1. Update guidelines ✔
2. Collaborative relationship
3. In an ideal world...
a. Individualized support
b. Separate developmental support & more
formal aspects of peer review