S. 1714 (111th): Open College Textbook Act of 2009

Introduced:
Sep 24, 2009 (111th Congress, 2009–2010)
Sponsor:
Sen. Richard Durbin [D-IL]
Status:
Died (Referred to Committee)

The bill’s title was written by the bill’s sponsor. S. stands for Senate bill.

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Status

This bill was introduced on September 24, 2009, in a previous session of Congress, but was not enacted.

Progress
Introduced Sep 24, 2009
Referred to Committee Sep 24, 2009
Cosponsors
none
Committees

Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

The committee chair determines whether a bill will move past the committee stage.

Full Title

A bill to authorize grants for the creation, update, or adaption of open textbooks, and for other purposes.

Summary

No summaries available.

Text

Read Bill Text »

Last updated Sep 24, 2009.
9 pages

Primary Source

View on THOMAS (The Library of Congress)

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Citation

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GovTrack’s Bill Summary

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Library of Congress Summary

The summary below was written by the Congressional Research Service, which is a nonpartisan division of the Library of Congress.

9/24/2009--Introduced.
Open College Textbook Act of 2009 - Authorizes the Secretary of Education to award competitive one-year grants to institutions of higher education (IHEs), professors from IHEs, and producers of open textbooks to create or update open textbooks, or adapt textbooks into open formats, for postsecondary coursework.
(Open textbooks are defined as college textbooks or course materials in electronic format that are licensed under an open license, which is an irrevocable intellectual property license that grants the public the right to access, customize, and distribute copyrighted material.) Requires such textbooks to be posted on an easily accessible and interoperable website and made available to the public free of charge.
Directs the Secretary to develop a peer review and evaluation process to ensure that these textbooks are of the highest quality, accurate in content, and meet or exceed market quality and accessibility standards.
Requires all elementary, secondary, and postsecondary educational materials created through federal grants to be licensed under an open license, posted on an easily accessible and interoperable website, and made available to the public free of charge.
Expresses the sense of Congress that IHEs should encourage professors to consider open textbooks within the generally accepted principles of academic freedom which give faculty the right and responsibility to select pedagogically appropriate coursework.

House Republican Conference Summary

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No summary available.

House Democratic Caucus Summary

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The bill contains the following citations to other parts of U.S. law:

United States Code

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