This is contribution no. 16-114-J from the Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station.The Kansas State University Open/Alternative Textbook Initiative provides grants to faculty members to replace textbooks with open/alternative educational resources (OAERs) that are available at no cost to students. Open educational resources are available for anyone to access, while alternative educational resources are not open. The objective of this study was to determine the perceptions towards OAERs and the initiative, of students enrolled in, and faculty members teaching, courses using OAERs. A survey was sent out to 2,074 students in 13 courses using the OAERs. A total of 524 (25.3%) students completed the survey and a faculty member from each of the 13 courses using OAERs was interviewed. Students rated the OAERs as good quality, preferred using them instead of buying textbooks for their courses, and agreed that they would like OAERs used in other courses. Faculty felt that student learning was somewhat better and it was somewhat easier to teach using OAERs than when they used the traditional textbooks. Nearly all faculty members preferred teaching with OAERs and planned to continue to do so after the funding period. These results, combined with the tremendous savings to students, support the continued funding of the initiative and similar approaches at other institutions.
Purpose -This paper explores the benefits of using faculty focus groups as an early component of a scholarly communications program with suggestions for planning and conducting sessions, recruiting participants and analyzing outcomes.Design/methodology/approach -Based on the experiences and findings of the authors where the use of focus groups was used in the initial stages of organizing a scholarly communications program at Kansas State University Findings -Focus groups are an effective method to begin identifying scholarly communication issues that resonate with faculty on a particular campus. Focus groups can be helpful in targeting efforts to begin a scholarly communications program.Practical implications -Focus groups are effective in generating insights, opinions and attitudes and are low cost in terms of time and resource commitments.Originality/value -There is very little in the literature about using faculty focus groups to start a campus scholarly communication program. This article provides practical and useful information that other libraries can use to incorporate this method into their planning.
Purpose – This paper aims to present a case study of the Kansas State University Libraries open access publishing endeavor, New Prairie Press (NPP). The library as publisher is a growing worldwide movement. Many academic and research libraries see it as their strategic mission to highlight and disseminate the research and creative work being done by faculty and students at their institutions. Topics covered include current activities, business plan development, needed technology and skill sets and migration from an open source platform to a hosted solution. Design/methodology/approach – The article presents a case study of one library’s experience of establishing a publishing press – libraries as publishers. Findings – This article finds that during the years of operation, NPP staff members have learned much about the role that libraries can play in the evolving scholarly communications landscape. Originality/value – This article finds that the continual assessment of value, alignment with strategic goals and funding will be critical to ensure future growth and direction of the press.
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