As major established publishers continue to raise fees for access and/or purchase to the scholarly materials the academy uses every day in classrooms and research centers, professors, students, and librarians have all felt the pressure of mounting costs. In the U.S., it has meant that librarians have been forced to cut, delay acquiring, or never buy certain costly items. In the world of scholarly journals, the effects have been devastating to the long-term health of the library. Students have long borne the brunt of rising textbook prices and often make do with various inadequate ad hoc practices to obtain access to textbooks. Around the world, Open Educational Resources have helped bridge the global digital divide between first-world educational economies and the emerging educational institutions of the south.
One of the ways we see faculty asserting their dedication to the craft of teaching (minus the publisher's fee) is to create and publish their own textbooks, journals, or other materials outside the framework of traditional publishing. It's a bit like flying without a net. But, I do hope you will examine the materials below and consider using an open textbook or supplementary material in a class coming soon.
The textbooks below have been written by faculty from across the U.S. You will see a variety of electronic formats available (pdf, .pub) for example. Most of these texts are published using a Creative Commons license. Some texts include the rights to amend and distribute (with proper credit) so you can customize a text or quiz for a specific class. A majority of these textbooks are intended for use in introductory courses. Many, but not all, include supplemental materials as well.
The world of OER has a looser relationship to traditional peer review and editorial control than the publishing infrastructure we all know. This is not to say that OER lacks peer review; they do not. As this avenue for publishing expands, so do the opportunities to become an author and reviewer. Often the reviewer's comments are alongside the text for you to see as a potential user of that text. That said, reviewers are always needed! If you would be interested in contributing to this movement, there are ways to offer your services as an expert.