The document discusses the role of libraries in open education, particularly in relation to open educational resources (OER) and open textbooks, highlighting the importance of collaboration with faculty to improve access and affordability for students. It identifies challenges such as textbook costs and the need for libraries to adapt to the shift towards open resources while enhancing their services and outreach. Additionally, the document outlines the initiatives of the Open Textbook Network to support academic success through the use of open textbooks across multiple campuses.

1. Sarah Faye Cohen
Managing Director / Open Textbook Network
open.umn.edu
Possibilities for libraries
in open education
Open to Opportunity

2. This is about a journey.

5. Course Reserves

6. Course Reserves
• Students looking for textbooks
• Faculty meeting that need
• The library cultivating relationships
with faculty and students through
reserves
• Long lines
• Too few copies
• Too many copies for the library’s
space
• Desk ”traffic patterns”

7. Operationally, we
“fixed” the problem.
Policies
Processes
Communications
Facilities
Feedback

9. “There’s an open education
conference in Vancouver, BC. You
should go.”

10. “There’s an open education
conference in Vancouver, BC. You
should go.”

11. “There’s an open education
conference in Vancouver, BC. You
should go.”

13. Defining Open Educational Resources
Hewlett Foundation Definition:
“OER are teaching, learning, and
research resources that reside
in the public domain or are
released under an intellectual
property license that permits
their free use and repurposing
by others”

15. That’s where I met Dave Ernst.

16. Open Content
OER
Open
Textbooks

17. Why Textbooks?
• Hits a major pain point – textbook costs
• Faculty understand textbooks
• Faculty know how to adopt textbooks
• Faculty effort (vs. alternatives) is kept at a minimum
• Textbooks can provide content for a complete (or nearly complete)
course

20. How does open education fit into the libraries’ landscape?

22. The cost barrier kept
2.4 million
low and moderate-income college-qualified high
school graduates from completing college in the
previous decade.
The Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED529499.pdf

23. A Lens Into Libraries

24. Open is “disruptive” to libraries

25. open = free + permissions

26. open = free + permissions

27. open = free + permissions
copy mix
share keep
edit use

30. Libraries risk their “stamp of approval”
• OER and authority, reliability,
sustainability.
• Information Literacy & Instruction
• Research materials
• Relationships
• Metrics

31. Library resources are not “open”, only
“available” within your institution.

32. -25%
25%
75%
125%
175%
225%
275%
325%
375%
425%
1986 1989 1992 1995 1998 2001 2004 2007 2010
%ChangeSince1986
Source: ARL Statistics 2010-11 Association of Research Libraries, Washington, D.C.
*Includes electronic resources from 1999-2000 onward.
Graph 2
Monograph and Serial Costs
in ARL Libraries, 1986-2011* Serial
Expenditures
(+402%)
Monograph
Expenditures
(+71%)
Monographs
Purchased
(10%)
www.sparcopen.org

35. How does open fit into what libraries already do?

36. How does open fit into what libraries already do?
• Scholarly Communication
• Institutional Repositories
• Information Literacy Curriculum
• Instruction and Outreach
• Access Services
• Interlibrary Loan
• Reserves
• Collection Development and Collections Management
• Electronic Resources Management
• Cataloging, Indexing, Metadata

37. Leverage our expertise
• Organizing information and
making it accessible

39. Leverage our expertise
• Organizing information and
making it accessible
• Leverage libraries’ work thus far

40. Leverage our expertise
• Organizing information and
making it accessible
• Leverage libraries’ work thus far
• A trusted resource and bridge to
faculty

41. Collaborate deeply with faculty.
• Actualize librarians’ deep interest in creative and innovative
pedagogy.
• Realize the potential of the 5Rs.
• Use OERs in the flipped classrooms, as well as inquiry based learning,
problem based learning, active learning.
• Stimulate tangible partnerships with Centers for Teaching and
Learning, Instructional Designers, Distance Education, and more.

42. Leverage our expertise
• Organizing information and
making it accessible
• Leverage libraries’ work thus far
• A trusted resource and bridge to
faculty
• Surface information habits of
users, especially students

43. Integrate open into current and new instruction
• ACRL Framework: Threshold Concepts
• Open’s potential to address many of the TCs:
• Format as process
• Authority as Constructed and Contextual
• Information as commodity
• Assessment opportunities:
• Creation and modification with students using open content would allow
libraries to provide direct assessment /artifacts of student learning and
achievement in these TCs.

44. Build connections to:
• ACRL's strategic direction
for libraries:
• expressing the value of libraries,
student learning, and active
participation in the research
and scholarly environment.
• Intersections in Scholarly
Communication and
Information Literacy
• Other open initiatives (OA,
open data, knowledge
commons, etc).

45. There is still much to be done.
• Accessibility
• Discovery
• Integration
• Tools for editing, authoring,
metadata
• Metrics
• Preservation
• Outreach
• What else?

54. Good news.

56. Open Textbook Network
The Open Textbook Network is an alliance of colleges and universities committed
to access, affordability, and student academic success through the use of open
textbooks.
Members include 31 individual academic libraries and 7 library consortia
(representing 147 libraries).
We’re 44 members representing about 250 campuses.

57. We’ll see you soon!
• Monroe Training: Thursday, Dec. 15
• New Orleans Training: Thursday, Jan. 12
• Space for up to 40 participants at each
training .
• An RSVP system to ensure that each
institution is able to send at least one
representative.
• Includes lunch (yum!)

59. Thank you!
@thesheck
@open_textbooks
sfcohen@umn.edu