What are open access textbooks?
Open access textbooks are free, peer-reviewed, online textbooks. Depending on the publisher, open access textbooks can be found in a variety of formats including PDF, html, Word doc, etc. In some instances publishers will provide printed copies of their textbooks for a nominal fee.
Open access textbooks are available for nearly every area of study. A majority are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license.
How do I find open access textbooks?
The following is a list of popular open access textbook providers:
OpenStax: http://cnx.org/search?q=
Books can be viewed online or downloaded in PDF, ePUB or Offline HTML formats.
Saylor Academy: http://www.saylor.org/books/
Books can be downloaded in PDF or DOC formats.
Due to the abundance of open access textbooks and providers, several institutions, including Purdue University and the University of Minnesota, have partnered to provide a search engine called the Open Textbook Library in order to make it easier to find textbooks by subject and keyword.
Open Textbook Library: https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/
In addition to providing a searchable database of textbooks, the Open Textbook Library also allows instructors to rate textbooks that they have adopted.
