[Open-education] Open textbook legislation introduced in US Congress

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Hello everyone,

Sharing some exciting news from the United States: Yesterday a bill was introduced in the U.S. Congress to support open textbook pilot programs at colleges and universities. The bill adds to the growing momentum in the U.S. federal government for OER, and also provides strong model language that can be useful in other policy efforts. There is likely a long path ahead to getting the bill passed, but taking this first step is a victory in itself. We hope you will join us in celebrating the great news!

Information about the bill:
Official Press Release
SPARC Advocacy Page
Fact Sheet

Also check out this great picture of two of the sponsoring Senators with a representative of the US OER coalition, Ethan Senack from USPIRG, as they announced the bill’s introduction!

Social media posts to amplify:
https://www.facebook.com/SenatorDurbin/posts/920139828021691:0
https://twitter.com/SenatorDurbin/status/652232832165769216
https://twitter.com/SenAngusKing/status/652264776777641988
https://twitter.com/RepJaredPolis/status/652222065022517248

Sponsors to thank: @SenatorDurbin @alfranken @SenAngusKing @USRepRHinojosa @RepJaredPolis
Hashtags: #textbookbroke #oerusa

Media coverage:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-durbin-textbook-costs-1008-biz-20151008-story.html
http://thehill.com/regulation/other/256431-dems-push-bill-to-make-college-textbooks-cheaper
http://www.dailyegyptian.com/news/article_a1569430-6df3-11e5-91fe-cf9f364ad035.html
http://www.kare11.com/story/money/2015/10/08/sens-franken-and-durbin-propose-free-textbooks-for-college/73611762/

Onwards! 

Nicole


Nicole Allen
Director of Open Education
SPARC, the Scholarly Publishing & 
Academic Resources Coalition
21 Dupont Circle NW, Suite 800
Washington, DC 20036 USA
+1 (202) 750-1637
nicole at sparc.arl.org
http://sparc.arl.org
@txtbks

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