By Ally Ruiz
Staff Writer
On Sept. 28, Governor Jerry Brown initiated two bills aimed to provide Creative Commons textbooks in order to helpCaliforniapublic college and university students save money on textbooks.
“Many students are paying more than $1,000 every year on their textbooks, sometimes having to choose between buying the books they need and paying for food and other living expenses” said author of the bill, Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacremento).
The two bills are Senate Bill 1052 and Senate Bill 1053. Senate Bill 1052 allows the California Open Education Resources Council to administer and attain the proper materials for the library. Senate Bill 1053 was also signed, which launches the California Digital Open Source Library and would allow students free online access to the textbooks of the 50 most taken courses.
These new found principles are also thought to be something of a technological test. These bills will not become effective without the help of legislature funding. If the legislature does decide to assist these two bills, then the first free books are organized to be obtainable for the 2013 – 2014 school year.
To create the bills, Governor Brown participated in meetings that consisted of a nine member council that was composed of three faculty members from the University of California (UC) system, California State University (CSU) system and the California Community College (CC) system. As a team, they will finalize the list of the 50 most frequently taken lower division courses for which the economically priced digital textbooks would become available. They look to encourage libraries to reserve them on campus.
Originally opposed to a section within the bill requiring publishers to provide three copies of used textbooks on reserve in campus libraries at the state’s public colleges and universities, The Association of American Publishers (AAP) gave full support once that particular section was amended.
“AAP does not oppose open source material, but we don’t support state funding for it, particularly when private industry, foundations, investors, entrepreneurs and others have already spent more than $500 million developing and producing open educational resources for college and university students across the country,” Andi Sporkin said, VP of Communications at the AAP.