The following FAQs were partially adapted from the FAQ page of the Open Textbook Network at the University of Minnesota and the Community College Consortium for Open Educational Resources.
- What are open textbooks? Covering a wide range of disciplines, open textbooks are freely available, under an unrestricted license, to download and print in various file formats from several web sites and OER (open educational resources) repositories. Many organizations provide access to open textbooks through their websites. Several file formats are made available for open textbooks; typical formats are: HTML, Adobe PDF, and plain text. An open textbook is a body of educational content that is openly available over the web, by mail, or in a book store with a copyright that allows copying and distribution or, with the most open copyrights, allows modification of the content and even sale.
- Why should I adopt an open textbook? Open textbooks are more affordable than commercially available textbooks; this permits student education budgets to stretch further, thus giving students greater flexibility in their education choices. Furthermore, faculty can readily customize open textbooks to better meet their local teaching and learning needs. Open textbooks provide pricing, flexibility and customization advantages that commercially available textbooks currently do not provide, customize and update open textbooks.
- What is the quality of open textbooks? There is essentially no difference in the faculty vetting process carried out for open textbooks, compared to commercially published textbooks. As with all textbooks, open textbooks vary in quality. Faculty selection of open textbooks, as in the selection of commercial textbooks, is often a collaborative process driven by departmental faculty. Quality of a particular open textbook can be determined in several ways: 1) recommendations by faculty who have used the open textbook, 2) vetting by faculty reviewers, and 3) faculty use of review guidelines created to standardize the open textbook review process. Some OER sites (e.g., Connexions) have a review system built in.
- How can my students get a copy of the open textbook I adopt? Most open textbooks are available for viewing on a computer via the Internet or as a document that can be downloaded for off line viewing or printing by students. Faculty can provide their students with the webpage address where students can access the open textbook. Alternatively, several print-on-demand services are available via the Internet that will provide students printed copies for a minimal fee. Additionally, campus bookstores and print-shops can provide printed copies of the open textbook for sale. Print-on-demand services will soon be available as well.
- Do I need permission to use an open textbook? Authors and publishers give you permission to use an open textbook by giving it an open license.
- So, I can just download an open textbook? Yes. All open textbooks in the library can be downloaded and adopted for free without additional permissions or paperwork.
- What is an open license? We’re glad you asked! Visit Creative Commons for more information. Please note that the library no longer accepts new open textbooks that include a CC ND (No Derivatives) license component. See the next question to know why.
- Can I edit or change an open textbook? Usually, yes. The vast majority of open textbooks have a Creative Commons license that allows for editing, adapting and making derivatives. We believe the ability to make changes to an open textbook is integral to its definition as open. However, you would not be able to make any changes if the textbook had a CC ND (No Derivatives) license component.
- The license says it's ok. How do I edit an open textbook? A lot depends on the file types the author or publisher has made available.
