Letter to Betsy DeVos, US Secretary of Education | SPARC coalition

"April 25, 2018

The Honorable Betsy DeVos, Secretary of Education

U.S. Department of Education 400 Maryland Avenue, SW Washington D.C. 20202

Dear Secretary DeVos:

On behalf of SPARC, a coalition including more than 200 academic and research libraries spanning nearly every state, I write to provide our recommendations concerning the implementation of $5 million Open Textbook Pilot funded in the Fiscal Year 2018 omnibus appropriation bill. SPARC has been working for more than a decade to make open the default for research and education, and our member libraries have extensive experience running projects at institutions of higher education creating new open textbooks and expanding their use. We strongly support the Congressional appropriation for the Open Textbook Pilot, and hope that our recommendations will be helpful as the Department considers how to implement the program to best support its intent to achieve savings for students, while maintaining or improving instruction and student learning outcomes...."