January 08, 2024

From all of us at the WRLC, we wish you a happy new year!  We are looking forward to our continued partnership with you and the exciting initiatives planned for the year ahead.

The second year of the two- year Open@WRLC Faculty Course Transformation program is officially open with a Request for Proposals beginning January 3, 2024.

Textbook affordability continues to be a serious concern for our students. What is the result of the unchecked commercial textbook publishing market? Research shows that most students are unable to purchase the required textbook- directly informing student success, retention and equity in the classroom. Two months before the onset of the pandemic caused university campuses to temporarily close, The Washington Post published an article detailing how local DMV university students are managing the textbook crisis. One student shared, “I’ve definitely went in three ways with two other people and we just shared a textbook because it was cheaper for us to do that…Textbooks are seen as little things, but the amount of money that they’re costing nowadays is really outlandish.”                                

Source: Textbooks are Pricey. So Students are Getting Creative.

Open Education Resources (OER) for post-secondary education have made significant progress over the last few decades and peer- reviewed textbooks and instructional material are now routinely and successfully used by instructors at fellow research universities across the country- including your own! A large-scale study at the University of Georgia has found that college students provided with free course materials at the beginning of a class get significantly better academic results than those that do not.

Source: The Impact of Open Educational Resources on Various Student Success Metrics

Please join the WRLC's Textbook Affordability Working Group (TAWG) to learn more about the faculty stipend program in which workshop attendees can earn $200 for writing a review of a textbook in the Open Textbook Library.

In addition, the WRLC is excited to launch the second pilot year of the Open@WRLC Faculty Curse Transformation Program with a  Request for Proposals . The $2,000 OER Adoption stipend is intended to support faculty who wish to replace a commercial textbook with OER. Those who adopt a resource will be using existing resource(s) as-is or with minimal editorial changes. Selected faculty will be expected to adopt the selected material during the 2024-2025 academic year. Join us to learn more about this new opportunity and how you can promote OER advocacy on your campus!

Check out the Open@WRLC Events page for more details about how to register for upcoming informational webinars and contact your campus TAWG representative or grants@wrlc.org if you have any questions.

- Angelique Carson (WRLC)

On behalf of the Textbook Affordability Working Group (TAWG)

As of January 1st, 2024, a wealth of works from 1928 have entered the US public domain. These works include Mickey Mouse’s first appearance, but also the sixth appearance of Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot in “The Mystery of the Blue Train” and some of the last silent films to be created in Hollywood before the “talkies” truly took over. Also sound recordings from 1923 (recordings being subject to a slightly different law/timeline) like performances by Bessie Smith and W.C. Handy are now among the works that can be shared without permission for free.These works are free to provide what Duke University’s Center for the Study of the Public Domain describes as a “wellspring for creativity.” Copyright law protects the rights of the original authors, but allowing copyright to expire ensures that “future authors can legally build on the past—reimagining the books, making them into films, adapting the songs and movies.”

Last year, Aaron Krebeck of WRLC mashed up the Hardy Boys and one of the most notable stories from the Case-book of Sherlock Holmes to show a tiny example of what is possible with new public domain content. This year, he has created a short film to celebrate the end of the silent era and to reimagine the artistic work of Agatha Christie and WC Handy. Please enjoy Hercule Poirot’s new adventure! It is important to note that these texts are readily available for re-use because they have been widely preserved as part of our shared cultural heritage. Countless other less-famous works from 1928 and earlier only exist for that same purpose because of the hard work of the librarians like all of you and shared print organizations like WRLC, the Partnership for Shared Book Collections, HathiTrust, and others.

https://youtu.be/nCa01ZUGHxg

APAC's Idea of the Month

The January Idea of the Month is an enhancement suggested by American University’s Matt Smith. Our consortium would like circulation desk staff to have the ability within Alma to renew items on loan from other institutions from under a user's network activity tab (renew all and renew selected, though renew all being more helpful if both are not possible). Currently, only the user has access to a renewal option via their Primo VE My Library Card.

Please consider adding some votes for “Ability for fulfillment staff to renew patron loans from other institutions under network activity in Alma”

https://ideas.exlibrisgroup.com/forums/308173/suggestions/38221921

Open@WRLC $2,000 Faculty Course Transformation Stipend Information Webinar Series

Wednesday, January 17th, 2024 : 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM

Wednesday, January 31st, 2024 : 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Wednesday, February 14th, 2024 : 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Thursday, February 22nd, 2024 : 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM

Webinars Via Zoom

Textbook affordability continues to be a serious concern for our students. What is the result of the unchecked commercial textbook publishing market? Many students will never purchase the required textbook- directly informing student success, retention and equity in the classroom. 

Open Education Resources (OER) for higher education have made significant progress over the last few decades and peer-reviewed textbooks and instructional material are now routinely and successfully used by instructors at fellow research universities across the country - including your own! 

Workshop attendees will be introduced to the WRLC $2,000 Faculty Course Transformation Stipend program, which is intended to support faculty who wish to replace (adopt) a commercial textbook with OER. Those who "adopt" a resource will be using existing resource(s) as-is or with minimal editorial changes. Grantees will be expected to adopt the selected material in the 2024-2025 academic year. 

In addition, the presentation will feature one or more faculty who received Faculty Course Transformation Stipends who will talk about their experience adopting OER for their course, followed by a Q&A with all presenters.

• Information Literacy Librarian - The University of the District of Columbia

• Librarian, Instruction and Research - Gallaudet University

• Librarian, Electronic Resources - Gallaudet University

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