IMLS funded project will allow more faculty to create their own open textbooks

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, 07/01/2019

More faculty will be able to create their own open textbooks thanks to a National Leadership Grant for Libraries from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to support a collaborative project led by the Open Textbook Network (OTN), in partnership with Coko.

“A National Platform for Authoring Open Textbooks” seeks to lower barriers to textbook publishing by offering a modern publishing solution that is freely available to all. The IMLS grant (LG-36-19-0035-19) will support this project in developing processes and tools to equip a broad community of authors to write and publish open textbooks.

The project will be informed by the OTN community and built on Coko’s Editoria software. Editoria is an open source, web-based, editing and production workflow tool. It will provide structural support to help authors delineate and apply consistent instructional design across all elements of a textbook. It will also provide collaboration functionality for faculty to work with authors, librarians, editors, peer reviewers, instructional designers, and other contributors who can help authors create quality textbooks. 

“Academic libraries are working hard to support their faculty who want to publish open textbooks,” said David Ernst, Executive Director of the OTN. “We’re excited that this grant gives us the opportunity to work with the OTN community and Coko to build solutions that will make publishing accessible to more institutions and more faculty.”

Adam Hyde, Coko Founder reinforced David’s thoughts. “I was very happy to work with David on this proposal and couldn’t be more pleased it has been successful,” said Hyde. “OTN have a similar DNA to Coko – we are both mission oriented organisations which value openness in all its forms. These are the right two organisations to work on this problem and I think we can all expect to see great results.”  

The Open Textbook Network (OTN) is a community of higher education institutions working to advance open education by supporting the use, publication, and distribution of openly licensed textbooks.These programs leverage Open Educational Resources (OER), which are created and licensed to be freely distributed, used and adapted. The resources can be downloaded for no cost, providing all students with free, continuous access to course materials. In addition, OER offer faculty the flexibility to customize the content to meet students’ learning needs. Since its inception in 2014, the network has grown to represent over 1,000 institutions. 

Coko facilitates creation of community-owned open infrastructure for research communication that fosters collaboration, increases transparency and enables the production and dissemination of knowledge at greater speed. 

The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s libraries and museums. We advance, support, and empower America’s museums, libraries, and related organizations through grantmaking, research, and policy development. Our vision is a nation where museums and libraries work together to transform the lives of individuals and communities. To learn more, visit www.imls.gov and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.