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For example, if authors wanted to begin each chapter with an overview, and conclude each chapter with reflective questions, those pedagogical elements would be designed to consistently appear throughout the book. An author would be spared formatting hassle.
By Karen Lauritsen, OEN Senior Director, Publishing.
An experimental and supportive group of people in the Open Education Network (OEN) have been experimenting with Ketty, a web-based, open-source book production platform designed to support collaborative authoring, editing, and publishing.
Our goal was to test and shape the open-source tool for open textbook production, and consider how it may become part of our shared infrastructure. Now at a crossroads, I’d like to look back at what we’ve accomplished and where we may go from here.
Goals
Launched in 2023, our pilot program brought together a group of librarians and open textbook authors who were willing to experiment with with Ketty and an embedded authoring tool called the Open Textbook Planner. Both tools were designed by the team at the Coko Foundation.
Our goals were to:
- discover how people use Ketty to publish OER;
- get feedback on Ketty and the Open Textbook Planner;
- strengthen and diversify our publishing community; and
- publish new open textbooks.
Background
The Open Textbook Planner project launched in 2019 with an IMLS National Leadership Grant. We convened an advisory group that co-designed a tool to support authors who want to plan their book’s structure and recurring pedagogical elements before they start writing.
Once the tool was built, the Open Textbook Planner was integrated into our Ketty instance. When authors logged into Ketty for the first time, they launched their project with the Open Textbook Planner. That process created an outline that would ensure their pedagogical elements were rendered consistently in the final design.
For example, if authors wanted to begin each chapter with an overview, and conclude each chapter with reflective questions, those pedagogical elements would be designed to consistently appear throughout the book. An author would be spared formatting hassle.
Then, the authors and project team could use Ketty for writing, editing, and publishing a polished, print-ready publication.
Highlights
Our quarterly pilot group meetings weren’t just for talking about the tool. They were also an opportunity for creators to share updates and ideas about their projects, and celebrate milestones.
One of the most exciting outcomes of the Ketty pilot has been our group’s publications. These projects demonstrate not only the platform’s capabilities but also our group’s creativity and commitment.
Publications made with Ketty during the pilot include:
- Accessible Appalachia: An Open-Access Introduction to Appalachian Studies by Lisa Day and Jacob Johnson
- Critical Appraisal Practice: Systematic Reviews by Juliana Magro, Andrea Thompson, and Caitlin Plovnick
- Never Gonna Change? An Examination of the 1901 Alabama Constitution by N. Alexander Aguado
- Past Makes Perfect: A Mini Handbook for Student Historians by Melissa Chim
Congratulations to our authors, project managers and collaborators!
Reflections from the Community
During the pilot, as we identified what worked as expected and what did not, we collaborated closely with Coko to iterate on Ketty’s features and ensure that the platform aligned with real-world publishing workflows commonly found in open educational publishing programs.
At the end of 2025, the conclusion of our first pilot phase, I surveyed participants more formally about their experience and thoughts about Ketty. Seventy-two percent thought that Ketty could meet their publishing needs in the future, and twenty-nine percent thought Ketty may be able to meet their publishing needs in the future.
Here are select comments:
- [Ketty] is a comprehensive publishing platform for OER that I haven't been able to find an affordable counterpart anywhere else.
- …I think that the final product looks very nice and professional, for very little effort.
- …Ketty is able to offer us a straight-forward, user-friendly tool to help us create ePub versions without the need to code.
While people seem generally optimistic that Ketty could potentially meet their open publishing needs, the pilot also reinforced that technology alone isn’t enough—successful publishing also depends on people, processes, and support systems. In short, community.
Looking Ahead
As we wrapped our two-year pilot, we learned that Adam Hyde, the founder of the Coko Foundation, was sunsetting the organization. In light of this development, we’re exploring whether there are sustainable ways the OEN may continue to develop Ketty in partnership with the community. Much remains to be determined, but if we’re able to iron out some technical details, our next step will be a feasibility study. That way we can have more information about what’s involved in potentially supporting Ketty’s future development, as well as establish a foundation for conversations with possible partners.
If you’d like a more detailed walkthrough of what the pilot group accomplished, watch our community update. If you’re interested in looking ahead with us as potential partners, please email klaurits@umn.edu.