This document summarizes a workshop on running effective open educational resource (OER) and open textbook initiatives in academic libraries. The workshop covered introducing OER and its benefits, developing advocacy strategies, and creating an action plan. Participants learned how to frame discussions around OER adoption, address common concerns, and develop SMART goals and tactics to advance OER on their campuses. The workshop emphasized sharing strategies and building connections to support OER efforts.

1. Running Effective OER + Open Textbook
Initiatives in Your Academic Library
#ACRL2017 • #LIBOER
Nicole Allen and Sarah Faye Cohen
wifi: ACRL2017 pw: atthehelm

2. What will we do today?
• Learn the basics of OER and how to talk about it on campus.
• Explore how you’ll incorporate successful strategies into your own
OER strategy.
• Begin developing an action plan for your campus in order to
advance OER in your local context.
• Practice addressing stakeholders and challenging situations to
prepare you to address and overcome common challenges in
OER adoption.

3. How will we do this?
• By working together
• By sharing
• By listening
• By asking questions
• By building connections
• By trying new things
wifi: ACRL2017
pw: atthehelm

4. A few ground rules…
• Be present
• Be positive
• Participate fully
• Ask questions
• Support each other’s learning

5. Presenter Introductions
@thesheck @txtbks

6. Introductions Around the Room
• Who are you?
• What’s your home institution?
• What does OER look like at your institution?
• Or, what do you want it to look like?
• What are you hoping to learn today?
30 Seconds!
wifi: ACRL2017
pw: atthehelm

7. Break & Post-It Exercise
During the break, grab a post-it and answer the following question.
What is one thing you want to be more comfortable
addressing about OER / open textbooks before you leave
today?
wifi: ACRL2017 pw: atthehelm

8. Clarifying Open
• What is it?
• Why does it matter?
• What are the implications?

9. THE CASE FOR

10. @txtbks | sparcopen.org
the status quo
is broken

11. Consumer Prices 2006–2016
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Textbooks
Tuition & Fees
All Items

12. Average Estimated Undergraduate
Budgets, 2016-17
Source: College Board
Books & Supplies = $1,200+

13. @txtbks | sparcopen.org
“the straw that broke
the camel’s back”

19. @txtbks | sparcopen.org
Captive Market

20. @txtbks | sparcopen.org
5 major
publishers hold
nearly 90% of
the market
Source: Turning the Page by James Koch
Near-Monopoly

21. Data Source: NACS
Mixed Messages

22. 2 in 3
Students say they decided against buying a textbook because the
cost is too high
Source: Student PIRGs

23. 1 in 2
Students say they have at some point taken fewer courses due to
the cost of textbooks
Source: Florida Virtual Campus

24. <1 in 2
Students purchase a current edition of their textbook
Source: Book Industry Study Group

25. @txtbks | sparcopen.org
students cannot learn from
books they can’t afford

26. @txtbks | sparcopen.org
we can do better

27. @txtbks | sparcopen.org
what is
open?

28. OPEN
EDUCATION

29. OPEN
EDUCATIONAL
RESOURCES

30. OPEN
EDUCATIONAL
RESOURCES

31. Sound Bite:
“Open educational resources are
freely available materials that can
be downloaded, edited, and
shared to better serve all
students.”

32. @txtbks | sparcopen.org
OPEN
EDUCATIONAL
RESOURCES

33. OPEN
Free + Permissions
Retain
Reuse
Revise
Remix
Redistribute
5Rs

34. technology
enables
copyright
forbids

35. open licensing system
www.creativecommons.org

36. @txtbks | sparcopen.org
most open
All Rights
Reserved©
most
closed
OER
5R permissions
retain, reuse, revise,
remix, redistribute

37. @txtbks | sparcopen.org
why does
it matter?

38. tcc.edu/academics/degrees/textbook-free
Open resources in every
single course, reduces
cost of degree 20%,
increases completion

39. “Thanks to the Z-Degree program
I didn’t have to choose between
continuing my education or getting
braces for my daughter”
- Melissa Koch, TCC Student

40. 12 percentage point
increase in student
success measure

41. "This launched us in to a new
direction, allowing us to be
creative and unfettered in
developing course materials that
would meet the needs of the
students at our respective
colleges and that could also
be…freely and widely
distributed.”
Prof. Howard Miller
Mercy College

42. $1.3 million in student
savings by working with
faculty to adopt free & open
resources

44. I wanted my students to gain hands on experience
managing a project… So I asked my students to
engage in a very large scale revise / remix project.”
- @opencontent

45. Award winning statistics text

47. open is
free + 5Rs

48. open is
a means

49. open is
a process

50. open is
changing lives

51. @txtbks
www.slideshare.com/txtbks
www.sparcopen.org
except where otherwise noted

52. Activity: Make Your Pitch
Develop and practice ways to make the case for OER on your
campus.

53. Activity: Make Your Pitch
What are you doing?
• Create a message that combines data
& local stories that matter to your
audience.
• Identify and explore your audience.
Why are they important to address?
What matters to them? What do they
need to make a decision?
How to do it.
• Two groups per table.
• Use the data points on your
table.
• You will have 30 minutes to
create a pitch for this
audience.
• Select a spokesperson to
share the pitch.

54. Questions for Feedback
• Is the pitch calibrated to the audience?
• In what way does the speaker define the problem?
• How does the speaker combine data and a story in a compelling
manner?
• What steps might the audience take after hearing the pitch? Are
these the steps the speaker was hoping for?
• What is one way the pitch might be improved?

55. Lunch Until 1:15
Be sure to vote on the topics for what you want to know about using
post-its. Lunch is on your own.

56. Breakout Table Topics
• Building systematic, sustainable programs
• Buy-in and concerns with administration
• Faculty engagement
• Working with the bookstore
• I still need help with…

57. Breakout Table Instructions
Appoint Roles
•Facilitator
•Notetaker
bit.ly/ACRL-OER
Discussion Questions
With respect to your topic…
• What questions still need to
be answered?
• What steps can you take on
this when you get home?

58. Breakout Table Instructions
1 Programs
2 Programs
3 Programs
4 Programs
5 Programs
6 Admin
7 Faculty
8 Faculty
9 Faculty
10 Faculty
11 Bookstore
12 Wildcard

59. Report Back
Let’s hear the key takeaways from each breakout group.
wifi: ACRL2017 pw: atthehelm

60. Break Until 2:45
We’re almost there!
wifi: ACRL2017 pw: atthehelm

61. Reframing Your Responses
A few key tips for framing your conversations about OER.

62. Beware of
demonizing!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/post406/242630595

63. Try not to overwhelm.
Don’t come to me with
the entire truth.
Don’t bring me the
ocean if I feel thirsty,
nor heaven if I ask for
light.
-from Olav Hauge’s
“Don’t come to me with the entire
truth,”
translated by Robert Bly

64. Leave Quality
Judgment to
Faculty

65. Respect
Academic
Freedom
https://www.flickr.com/photos/basykes/7131116

66. Find your voice.

67. Common Questions
• They can’t be that good if they’re free, right?
• Is the quality the same as other textbooks?
• Are students learning using these resources?
• What about our campus bookstore? If we support this effort, won't
they go out of business?
• How do I find the time to adopt OER?

68. What’s your action plan?
Identify three steps you are going to take when you get back to
campus
bit.ly/liboer-action-plan

69. Problem
Solution
Goal
Strategy
Tactics

70. Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Realistic
Time-based
SMART Goal Setting

71. The Strategy Scale
• Create a climate where X is likely to do Y
• Persuade X to do Y
• Incentivize X to do Y
• Put pressure X to do Y
• Hold X accountable for not doing Y

72. The Strategy Scale
• Create a climate where X is likely to do Y
• Persuade X to do Y
• Incentivize X to do Y
• Put pressure X to do Y
• Hold X accountable for not doing Y

73. Tactics You Can Use
• Awareness Tactics
• Persuasion Tactics
• Incentive Tactics

74. Stay in Touch!
Hashtag: #LibOER
Listserv: www.liboer.org
Notes: http://bit.ly/ACRL-OER

75. #ACRL2017 • #LIBOER
Sarah Faye Cohen
sfcohen@umn.edu
@thesheck
Nicole Allen
nicole@sparcopen.org
@txtbks