Category Archives: oa.u.massachusetts

UMass Amherst Libraries Announce Publication of Open-Access Peregrine Falcon Curriculum

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“The University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries are pleased to announce the publication of The UMass Amherst Libraries Falcon Curriculum: An Open Source, Common Core PreK-12 Curriculum on Peregrine Falcons, by Lauren Weiss, Associate Editor, Digital Content, UMass Amherst Libraries, and Margaret Krone ’12MS, ’25PhD (College of Education). It is the first open access textbook developed and published fully by the Libraries.

The curriculum is an open educational resource (OER), meaning that it is freely available to anyone, anywhere, to use and adapt. The lesson plans are mapped to the Common Core, a set of educational standards for teaching and testing between pre-kindergarten and 12th grade, which allows teachers to incorporate them into their curricula more easily….”

New England Quaker Records to be Digitized

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“The New England Yearly Meeting of Friends Records—rich and voluminous materials of Quakers going back to their mid-17th-century beginnings—will be the focus of a new digitization project by the Robert S. Cox Special Collections and University Archives Research Center (SCUA), in the UMass Amherst Libraries. When the project is completed, the vital records and meeting minutes heavily consulted by historians and genealogists will be available in SCUA’s digital repository, Credo, on the web, and through the collaborative Massachusetts digital portal, Digital Commonwealth, of which SCUA is a member….”

UMass Libraries Invest in New Publishing Models: Open Access Initiatives Deliver Thousands of New Book Titles to Patrons and the Public | UMass Amherst

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“The UMass Amherst Libraries have invested in three open access book publishing programs to bring thousands of new titles to patrons and the public at no cost to them. With the support of institutions like UMass Amherst, MIT Press Direct to Open (D2O) University of Michigan Press Fund to Mission (F2M), and Open Book Publishers will release at least 155 new books in 2022, which will be openly accessible to readers. With these investments, the campus community gains access to an additional 4,900 books published by MIT Press and the University of Michigan Press….”

Framework for Provider Agreements Frequently Asked Questions | UMass Amherst Libraries

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“The Framework for Provider Agreements (FPA) is a set of principles to guide the UMass Amherst Libraries when they are working with resource providers (e.g., journal publishers, monograph publishers, data repositories, platforms, infrastructure, etc.).

The FPA also serves as a public declaration relating to the Libraries’ goal of moving towards a more financially sustainable, diverse, accessible, and open system of scholarly communication. We engage in these efforts not only as consumers of intellectual products but also as creators and evaluators.

We also recognize that procedures and expectations can vary among academic disciplines, so the principles are meant to be taken as a guide rather than a rigid set of rules.”

UMass Amherst Libraries Announce Publication of Openly Licensed Textbook, Tutt* a tavola! | UMass Amherst Libraries

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“The University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries are pleased to announce the publication of the openly licensed textbook, Tutt* a tavola! Dr. Stacy Giufre and Dr. Melina Masterson were 2020 recipients of two Open Education Initiative grants that are funded by the Provost’s Office and University Libraries.

Tutt* a tavola! is a two-volume textbook for Elementary Italian (Italian 110 and 120, over two semesters)….

Accessible, online versions of the volumes are available at the University Libraries open books website: https://openbooks.library.umass.edu/tutt-a-tavola-vol-1/ and https://openbooks.library.umass.edu/tutt-a-tavola-vol-2/. …”

UMass Amherst Libraries Statement on Textbooks | UMass Amherst Libraries

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“As fall semester 2020 approaches, library, faculty, and staff are working to provide alternative access to print course reserves. To support instructors and students over the next several months, we are utilizing different approaches to how we acquire course textbooks to ensure that students have access to needed resources in alternative learning environments.  

The cost of textbooks and other course materials are a barrier for students at every university. To avoid fees, some students don’t purchase textbooks, instead, they use a copy on reserve. A significant portion of print books on reserve are required textbooks, which students are unable to use without coming into the library building. Complicating this work are textbook publishers, who often do not make electronic formats available to libraries for purchase as they have built their business models around selling e-textbooks directly to students.  …

Due to these constraints, we are working with faculty and instructors to explore and identify viable textbook alternatives, including: …

Adopting open educational resources (OER). OERs are freely available educational materials that are openly licensed to allow for re-use and modification by instructors. …”