California State University, Office of the Chancellor

California State University proposes this project to help launch the statewide California Open Source Digital Library initiative. In 2012, California passed a $5 million bill to launch a statewide Open Textbook Initiative, requiring that public funds be matched one-to-one before being made available. This grant would kick off the planning and design phase of this project, with funds matched by the state. CSU will establish the academic board, governance process, and a textbook sourcing and adoption process to launch this initiative, which would be the largest state-level OER project in the country.

The California State University’s Merlot and COOL4ED programs work to institutionalize the adoption of OER across California’s community college and state university systems. With this supplement, CSU will be able to leverage additional state resources to develop OER and work to spread the California model to other states and higher education systems, including historically black colleges and universities. This project will promote greater adoption and use of open textbooks in higher education and will make education more affordable by providing faculty and students access to free and lower-cost instructional materials.