$2.2M saved in textbooks and media - Nicholas Ketchum, Washtenaw Voice

Some college faculty, administrators, and trustees are concerned over the steep cost of textbooks, and they’d like to do something about it. During the Board of Trustees meeting on Oct. 30, Joyce Hommel, executive director of the learning resources division at the Bailey Library, showed the board how the college is working to offer free alternatives to students who are unable (or unwilling) to purchase textbooks due to cost. “Open Educational Resources,” or OER, are openly-licensed textbooks (as well as other types of media) offered at no-cost to help make learning, teaching, and research more accessible. “We wanted our students to be able to have free or lower-cost textbooks… so students would have higher success rates,” Hommel said at the meeting. She said that standard textbook costs often range between $30 and $300 for a single book; and some of the more specialized books surpass $400. https://www.washtenawvoice.com/2018/11/05/2-2m-saved-in-textbooks-and-media/