LIBR 287-05

What incentives might authors have to make their textbooks open?

One of the best incentives for authors to make their textbooks open is : Affordability.  Students and faculty share the same concern about the rising costs of textbooks which often average well over $500 a semester.

Check out The New Member Roundtable of ALA (NMRT) 2009-2010 NMRT Online Discussion Forum:

Open Access, Web 3.0--How Will Technology Continue to Change the Services of Libraries of the Near and Long Term Future?

http://www.students.ala.org/studentmemberblog/?cat=126 

You have to be a member of ALA (and possibly NMRT) to access this.

As I was reading Shkolnikova's article
on open online textbooks, going through my head was the comparison to
online music sources, and I hadn't noticed yet the title of the
Stross article. Many musicians have been much friendlier toward

What incentives might authors have to make their textbooks open?

I think the incentives become personal.

For some it will be seen as a moral obligation i.e. "It's the right thing to do".(Abelson)

For others it will be seen as a great chance to have their book "known". Some scholarly author's realm of exposure is quite limited. Open textbooks expand their exposure and therefore enhance both their reputation (the books are peer-reviewed and professionally edited) and their pocketbooks.(low cost/larger audience).

* What advantages do you think unconferences might bring to the library field?

With the tightening of belts and cuts to library budgets, I know one of the first things our library lost were training

sessions and going to seminars and stuff like that. Being able to run an unconference from a computer station

saves on travel costs, time, employee can still come to work, and they will still gain the knowledge they could

have obtained if they went to the conference. I remember back in my undergraduate years, I took a computer

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  • What advantages do you think unconferences might bring to the library field?

• What advantages do you think
  unconferences might bring to the library field?