Hello Rebus Community! I am conducting research into the growing relationship between On-Campus Print Services and the OER movement, with the goal of increasing the potential for ‘in-house’ production of OERs at a wider range of institutions. Do any of you have insight/knowledge into what exists at your home institutions? Any ideas as to what might work to strengthen this relationship? Thanks!
1 Like
That’s an excellent question! It’s definitely a good way to leverage existing networks on-campus, strengthen the OER production movement at one’s institution, and possibly even lower the costs for printing OERs. I know that @dave.dillon explored the potential of printing his Blueprint of Success open textbook with his college’s bookstore/printing service. I’m tagging him here, in case he can tell you more about the experience/process!
I also think this would be a great one to ask at our upcoming Office Hours session on print and OER, in case any of our guests or attendees on the call have experience working with their on-campus print services that they can share. Details about the session are here, in case you are interested: Office Hours: More than a Button: Getting Open Textbooks into Print (27 June 2019, 2pm EST/ 6pm UTC).
1 Like
@allisonbrown and I work with campuses across the State University of New York (SUNY) network with a wide range of experiences concerning OER & local print servicing options. Happy to follow up with you about what we’ve seen, and who on different campuses it might be worth following up with.
1 Like
Sounds great, @alexisclifton and @allisonbrown Since you are in New York and I am in Canada, I am mostly interested in your experiences with establishing OER/printing partnerships in general. At present I am collaborating on a project with the University of Manitoba, who have an in-house Print Services team, but to date lack the infrastructure and/or awareness to print OERs. Some general questions are as follows:
-What are potential difficulties in establishing OER ‘in-housing?’
-What are necessities that should be taken care of (institutional, infrastructure, etc.) prior to an OER/Print Services relationship?
-To you, what are the biggest benefits to ‘in-house’ design and production?
Thanks for any insight you are able to provide!
1 Like
At University of Tennessee, our print shop just recently started a joint effort to collaborate with a course packet publisher named LAD Publishing. I had originally gone with LAD Publishing to make print copies of my book because they would go over and make sure my licenses were cleared and indeed “open”. With them, my book in color will still be around $40. In the fall it will be used for the first time in a course and we are going to see if students buy print copies, make their own copies, or use the digital version only.
I am also wondering now that it’s cleared for licenses how much it would cost in our print shop. The issue with our print shop is that they do not check licenses–it’s up to the professor to have them already cleared. I wonder if printing them in-house would make them cheaper. I’ll try to find out after this pilot course.
A very interesting topic! I hope you can get some good information.
1 Like
