Push for free books at NMC - PATTI BRANDT BURGESS, Record-Eagle

Students spend hundreds of dollars on textbooks — an estimated $1,200 per year. About $3 billion of financial aid money is spent nationwide on textbooks every year, according to a Student Public Interest Research Group study. It's money students could spend on tuition for an additional class, for childcare, transportation, rent or even groceries, says Tina Ulrich, director of NMC's Osterlin Library. That's where Open Educational Resources (OER) come in. Any material that is openly licensed and is in the public domain can be used by anybody for anything, Ulrich said. The digitized material is freely accessible and can be remixed, revised, redistributed and reused, she said. It can be used online, or students can print it out. https://www.record-eagle.com/news/local_news/push-for-free-books-at-nmc/article_37a36f51-9149-5d77-9d57-0eb61bf7b4d0.html