We were joined by 160 colleagues for a webinar looking at Sylla and OER content. Sylla, led by Tom Mosterad, was originally set up to allow for open access in teaching, as well as research and they went into beta partnership with Coventry University to help them find, assess and use open textbook resources. Sylla uses reading lists and module data to suggest possible open replacements for paid for textbooks, at book and chapter level. Sylla hope to support a shift to a more open future and are looking to add more open and affordable content to their platform, potentially help others to flip to open and working with pro-open publishers to try to fill gaps.

Coventry University had a long standing etextbook programme and Phil Brabban outlined that some of these textbooks weren’t satisfactory, despite the price. They used Sylla for discovery and their existing etextbook provider’s platform for hosting, which added engagement tools. Coventry were able to transition 133 books and estimate savings of £80k. However, it goes beyond cost savings to improvements in diversity, transparency and ethics and improving sustainability.

University of Leeds are also partnering with Sylla, as well as their existing etextbook providers, and are looking to integrate it into existing library workflows, rather than working with a new platform. Current costs per user and time per use is lower than the library would like, so they are looking at improvements around this.

Jisc are working with Sylla on a pilot that would see them negotiate a licence agreement. The pricing structure is still evolving but is likely to be based on Jisc bandings.

Chat transcript and comments