Day/time: May 9, 2023, 1:15 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. ETD
Title: Consortium Models for Open Education Resource Publishing
Presenters:
- John D. Morgenstern, Copyright and Scholarly Communications Librarian, Emory University
- Jeff Gallant, Program Director, Affordable Learning Georgia
- Ellan Jenkinson, Member Engagement & Training Librarian, Partnership Among South Carolina Academic Libraries
- BJ Robinson, Director, University of North Georgia Press
- Yang Wu, Open Education Resources Librarian, Clemson University
Description: Academic libraries play a key role in publishing open education resources (OER), but limitations on budget, staffing, and publishing expertise threaten the sustainability of efforts at any single institution. This panel showcases two trailblazing collaborations between statewide library consortia and university presses that leverage inter-institutional resources to publish high-impact, professional-quality OER sustainably.
A decade ago, the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia launched Affordable Learning Georgia (ALG) with a mandate to reduce the cost of course materials for students and enhance the discovery of library materials through GALILEO, Georgia’s virtual library. A grant program through ALG underwrites the adoption, adaptation, and creation of OER. The University of North Georgia Press partners with this program, offering grantees such services as peer review, project management, and production.
Inspired by Georgia’s pioneering approach to sustainable OER publishing, Clemson University Press recently established an imprint to publish open textbooks in collaboration with the Partnership Among South Carolina Academic Libraries (PASCAL), the statewide library consortium. Named after PASCAL’s affordable-learning program, SCALE (South Carolina Affordable Learning), the imprint provides an avenue for authors from any of the consortium’s fifty-six member institutions to publish open textbooks through Clemson.
This panel brings together representatives from both sides of the Georgia and South Carolina OER publishing initiatives, who will recount how the collaborations came to fruition, identify the challenges they encountered (in areas such as getting initial buy-in, advocating for funding, and maintaining sustainability), and offer practical guidance for overcoming them. Ultimately, these partnerships offer replicable models for open textbook publishing in states lacking dedicated OER funding based around engaging a larger community of librarians and university presses in collaboration.