E-Book pilot for World Campus students shows tremendous promise

Increasing Library E-Book Collections AND Saving Students Money AND Providing Equivalent Access to World Campus Students

Since December 2016, a small group has been working hard at an E-Book pilot for World Campus students. This group consists of colleagues from World Campus, Filippelli Learning Design and the Libraries. Our charge and goal is to create a proactive approach to course reserves for World Campus students that can then be used for residential students.

The process is collaborative and requires a strong partnership between World Campus and the Libraries. We conducted a soft launch this summer with the inclusion of 23 E-Books in 18 World Campus courses. This is estimated to save students approximately $27,000. Students are informed of the availability of an E-Book in multiple ways including their course catalog, a page listing all available E-Books, their academic advisors, and an announcement from the instructor of record.

In fall 2017, we will be doing a complete launch of the program. Based on spring 2017 data, we could have licensed approximately $19,800 of E-Books and would have potentially saved students $417,000. It is estimated that the fall 2017 launch will have similar amounts.

We are very excited about this program, increasing affordability for students, engaging the libraries in Provost Jones’ focus on access and affordability in general, and Open Educational Resources. This initiative complements the much-anticipated debut of the Open Textbook Network.

If you have any questions about this program you can email me at victoria@psu.edu and I will either answer your question or direct you to the appropriate person. Look for a full press release closer to the start of fall 2017 semester.

– submitted by Victoria Raish, World Campus and Penn State Online