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Getting Textbooks to Zero Student Cost: ZTC and OER

Merced College Library guide with resources for lowering student textbook costs.

Terminology

  • Zero textbook cost (ZTC) means that students do not incur any costs for purchasing required course reading materials, though zero-cost to students does not guarantee zero-cost to the institution. 
  • Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) materials are those materials in which students do not pay to access and use required course reading materials. 
  • S.B. 1359 states Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) course materials “may include open educational resources, institutionally licensed campus library materials that all students enrolled in the course have access to use, and other properly licensed and adopted materials.”

"What is ZTC?" (54 seconds) is by Evelyn & Howard Boroughs Library

"Open Educational Resources (OER) are learning, teaching and research materials in any format and medium that reside in the public domain or are under copyright that have been released under an open license, that permit no-cost access, re-use, re-purpose, adaptation and redistribution by others" (UNESCO).

As outlined by Wiley, true OER allow for the following 5R's: 

  • Retain – make, own, and control a copy of the resource (e.g., download and keep your own copy)
  • Revise – edit, adapt, and modify your copy of the resource (e.g., translate into another language)
  • Remix – combine your original or revised copy of the resource with other existing material to create something new (e.g., make a mashup)
  • Reuse – use your original, revised, or remixed copy of the resource publicly (e.g., on a website, in a presentation, in a class)
  • Redistribute – share copies of your original, revised, or remixed copy of the resource with others (e.g., post a copy online or give one to a friend)

OERs can include full books, courses, lesson plans, activities, test banks, PowerPoint presentations, and more. 

Example

"What is OER?" (1 minute & 39 seconds) by The Council of Chief State School Officers is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0

  • Library-licensed materials are the electronic resources provided by an institution's library, such as eBooks, articles from news, magazine, and journal sources, streaming videos, and more. 
  • The vast majority of materials found in library databases must always be shared via permalink or embed code, never uploaded as files, in order to follow licensing agreements, utilize built-in accessibility features, and enable database vendors to appropriately count usage, which is data that the library faculty use to make collections decisions. 
  • Some library databases do include open access (OA) content; the library's OneSearch catalog allows you to specifically search for OA materials.

Examples

Unlimited licenses were specifically purchased for these books being used in classes in Fall 2023: 

unlocked orange lock icon designating Open Access materials"Open Access [OA] is the free, immediate, online availability of research articles combined with the rights to use these articles fully in the digital environment. Open Access is the needed modern update for the communication of research that fully utilizes the Internet for what it was originally built to do—accelerate research" (SPARC). This movement has also extended into academic books. Wikipedia's "Open Access" entry is quite good and explains the nuances related to OA and OA practices. 

Open access content is sometimes designated by the unlocked orange lock icon. The OA logo was originally designed by Public Library of Science. Some of the library's databases do include OA content. The library's OneSearch catalog allows you to specifically search for OA materials.

Example

"Open Access" (2 minutes & 21 seconds) by PfauLibrary is licensed under CC BY 3.0

The following is from "Welcome to Public Domain" by Stanford Libraries, which is licensed under CC BY-NC 3.0:

The term “public domain” refers to creative materials that are not protected by intellectual property laws such as copyright, trademark, or patent laws. The public owns these works, not an individual author or artist. Anyone can use a public domain work without obtaining permission, but no one can ever own it.

There are four common ways that works arrive in the public domain:

  • the copyright has expired
  • the copyright owner failed to follow copyright renewal rules
  • the copyright owner deliberately places it in the public domain, known as “dedication,” or
  • copyright law does not protect this type of work

The Copyright Services guide by Cornell University Library, which is licensed under CC BY 4.0, also contains a helpful section related to the public domain. 

Example

"What is Public Domain?" (3 minutes & 24 seconds) is by the U.S. Copyright Office

  • There is recognition that some courses may not be able to reach ZTC status.
  • Low-textbook cost, or LTC, is a worthwhile goal. 
  • Each local senate must establish their threshold. 
  • While many community colleges have $40 as their threshold, the Student Senate for California Community Colleges Board of Directors has recommended $30 as the definition for “low-cost” and the ASCCC encourages “local academic senates to adopt $30 or less as their locally established cost threshold that must not be exceeded for a course to be considered low-cost for designating and reporting purposes” (Resolution 17.05, Fall 2022). 
  • The price used to determine cost is the pre-tax list price.
  • A local resolution will be coming to the Academic Senate in January 2024. 

Example