Open educational resources and open textbooks in the context of strengthening the leadership potential of higher education libraries in knowledge accessibility

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to prove the possibility of strengthening the leadership potential of libraries of higher education institutions of Ukraine in the formation of an ecosystem of Open Educational Resources (OER) in the country in order to overcome the crisis of lack of modern accessible educational content in the Ukrainian language and to form a pool of free, accessible, inclusive open textbooks for higher education during the period of martial law in the country. It is emphasised that the active involvement of libraries in OER support processes will help to overcome three major challenges in organising information support for the educational and scientific activities of Ukrainian higher education institutions during the highest level crisis. Firstly, the lack of modern textbooks for higher education, including for distance, blended or online learning. Secondly, the availability of electronic open textbooks, their inclusiveness, and barrier-free access for anyone. Thirdly, overcoming the long-lasting systemic linguocide of the Ukrainian language in textbooks for higher education institutions, in particular, in digital library collections. It has been found that three years of research, implementation of a pilot project and already established practices of supporting open textbooks as part of OER at the Ukrainian State University of Science and Technologies (Dnipro) and its scientific library have allowed to start creating a pool of modern Ukrainian open textbooks in Ukraine with a single access point — Open Educational Resources Search Index (OERSI). It is emphasised that the libraries of Ukrainian higher education institutions have extensive long-term experience in the field of openness of knowledge/information/resources/services. This will help to strengthen their leadership potential in the adoption of OER and the development of models for their support. To develop a roadmap for the library OER landscape at the local, regional or national level, Ukrainian specialists need: a concept, structural changes, adjustments to the list of positions and job responsibilities, new types of services, and training programmes.