CSU Libraries Make Open Resource Textbooks Available to Students
Thirteen California
State University (CSU) libraries will now
offer open educational resource (OER) textbooks to their 285,000
students. The
libraries, which already represent the largest coordinated university
library
system in the United States, will now make available the textbooks from OpenStax College,
an initiative begun at Rice University that provides free and
low-cost digital and print textbooks to college students.
The 13 university libraries will begin
displaying and distributing
the textbooks during the spring semester, thanks to a $1.3 million grant
from
the Gary Michelson Twenty Million
Minds Foundation, which typically seeds
technologies to lower the cost of education.
Michelson, the founder of the foundation, called "the
skyrocketing cost of textbooks an underreported financial burden on
students."
The OpenStax initiative hopes to help those students
by
providing high quality, affordable resources for higher education.
The textbooks, peer-reviewed by educators, have been
used in
more than 1,100 college courses around the world since the initiative
began two
years ago, saving students what OpenStax College estimates to be $30
million. The
College Board estimates the
average college student spends $1,200 a year on books and supplies.
"Our books are opening
access to
higher education for students who couldn't otherwise afford it," said
Rice
Professor Richard Baraniuk, founder and director of OpenStax College,
last year.
"We've already saved students millions of dollars, and thanks to the
generosity of our philanthropic partners, we hope to save students more
than
$500 million by 2020."
The 11 textbooks already available have been
downloaded more
than 650,000 times. The initiative, funded entirely by philanthropic
donations,
plans to add 10 additional new titles within the next two years and will eventually cover 25 of the nation's
most-attended
college courses, according to the organization. Current topics covered
by the
texts include
introductory physics,
anatomy and physiology, sociology, statistics and biology.
About the Author
Michael Hart is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer and the former executive editor of THE Journal.