Research Guides: Open and Affordable Course Content: Resources on Textbook Costs and Affordable Course Content

Reports on Textbook Costs

Fixing the Broken Textbook Market: How Students Respond to High Textbook Costs and Demand Alternatives
Reporting the results of a 2014 Student PIRG survey of over 2,000 students on the academic impacts of high textbook costs.
Covering the Cost: Why We Can No Longer Afford to Ignore High Textbook Prices
Reporting the results of a 2016 Student PIRG survey of nearly 5,000 students on the financial impacts of high textbook costs.
Florida Student Textbook and Course Materials Survey
Collection of reports from Florida Virtual Campus's survey of over 22,000 students on students' methods of coping with textbook costs and the academic impacts they face as a result.

Textbook and OER Studies

Bayview Analytics OER Research
Bayview Analytics publishes a yearly report on the awareness, selection, and usage of textbooks and OER across higher education.
Affordable Course Content and Open Educational Resources, SPEC Kit 351
This study from the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) presents information on affordable and open course content initiatives at ARL institutions, including funding models, faculty incentives, examples of content that has been developed, and library support models.
Course Materials Adoption: A Faculty Survey and Outlook for the OER Landscape
A White Paper produced by Choice providing analysis of faculty behaviors on discovering, evaluating, and selecting course materials.

Federal and State Policy

Virginia Policies

VA § 23.1-1308. Governing board procedures; textbook sales and bookstores; open educational resources.

E. The governing board of each public institution of higher education shall implement guidelines for the adoption and use of low-cost and no-cost open educational resources in courses offered at such institution. Such guidelines may include provisions for low-cost commercially published materials.

F. The registrar or another appropriate employee of each public institution of higher education shall identify conspicuously in the online course catalogue or registration system, as soon as practicable after the necessary information becomes available, each course for which the instructor exclusively uses no-cost course materials or low-cost course materials.

Other State Policies

SPARC State Policy Tracker
Resource providing an overview of state policies focusing on OER.

Federal Policies

$5 Million for Open Textbooks in FY18 Omnibus
SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) resource page for the FY2018 Omnibus bill and associated $5 Million for Open Textbooks. Includes links to bill details, advocacy points, and open textbook facts.
Federal Register: Open Textbook Pilot Program [2018]
Applications for New Awards; Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education-Open Textbooks Pilot Program
The Department of Education is issuing a notice inviting applications for new awards for fiscal year (FY) 2018 for the Open Textbooks Pilot program conducted under the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) number 84.116T.