Learning Objectives
By the end of this chapter, you should be able to:
- Identify one or more platforms for publishing OER work
- Choose one platform that suits your OER publishing needs
Pressbooks
MLPP’s book design tool is Pressbooks: an easy-to-use online service that enables authors and publishers to create attractive content using a wide variety of templates and formatting options. Pressbooks allows ebooks to be kept private, shared with other authors or editors, or made publicly available. Templates are available that are specifically tailored for poetry, fiction, family history, dissertations, and many other content types.
Pressbooks assigns each uploaded manuscript a unique URL that authors and publishers can use to share their work. Pressbooks enables authors to export their works in formats that are essential to publishing including PDF, EPUB, MOBI, and HTML. Authors also have a variety of options to create print versions of their book(s). MLPP also offers training videos, best practices documents, and step-by-step instructions on how to get started with Pressbooks.
Video training is available through the Pressbooks YouTube Channel.
Cornerstone
The Minnesota State University, Mankato Memorial Library offers an open-access publishing platform for a multitude of resources called Cornerstone. Cornerstone can display any form of scholarly and creative work, from audio, video, or other supplemental materials to open textbooks or open anthologies. Examples in Cornerstone of Open materials:
- https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/wlc-fac-pubs/77/
- https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/wlc-fac-pubs/18/
- https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/university-archives-msu-authors/422/
- https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/university-archives-msu-authors/356/
- https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/oer/
OpenDora
OpenDora, developed by PALS, is a digital archive for open educational resource (OER) materials, allowing Minnesota State faculty and librarians to load, access, and share licensed OER. This ultimately results in customized resources that best meet the needs of students while reducing the cost of textbooks. All Minnesota State institutions have access to OpenDora for OER materials at no cost.
Using an open-source platform, OpenDora preserves course material, supports any file format, allows for searchable content, and has easy-to-use data entry forms to load and manage OER materials
Benefits of OpenDora:
- Accessible from the Minnesota State library system or any internet-connected device
- Single sign-on from D2L Brightspace
- Supports any file format
- Content is fully searchable
- Users can restrict access to content such as test banks
- Preservation of course materials
Additional Platforms
Open Textbook Library: https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/
OER Commons: https://www.oercommons.org/
MERLOT: https://www.merlot.org/merlot/
Open Access Journals: https://libguides.mnsu.edu/c.php?g=154198&p=1012340