Textbook authors — Remember how all the textbook publishers sent you e-mails saying they had your back and we’re all one big family during the Coronavirus crisis? Hold them to that as you move forward.
All ebooks are not created (or distributed) equally! When we buy ebooks for the library collections, we are licensing that content from the publisher to share with students and faculty. Some ebook licenses allow unlimited users. These are obviously ideal for use in courses. Some require us to limit use to 1 or 3 simultaneous users. Some ebooks do not have institutional licenses at all — the ebooks exist, but libraries are not allowed to buy and lend them.
As an author, you have rights — and you need to talk about them before you sign your contract. If your publisher is willing to create an ebook, ask them to allow institutional licenses and unlimited users.
These rights are in accordance with OSU’s key values of access and equity, especially during times of national crises. And they’ll make your book way more useful for teaching and learning!
Want to know more?
- Talk to Michael Boock (Scholarly Communication Librarian) about strategies for defining your authors’ rights.
- Make your course reserves requests early — as early as you can — so if we run in to rights issues we can work with you on alternatives.
- Talk to Zach Welhouse (Online Learning Librarian) and OSU’s Open Educational Resources unit about free and open course materials.
