V. Conclusion

The cases studied here represent a fragment of a much larger community. As the OER movement gains momentum in the US and Canada, more and more libraries may see themselves becoming publishers. As impossible as it is to get a completely comprehensive set of data, the institutions represented in these interviews were Canadian and American, large and small, from historically conservative regions and historically liberal ones, and from different institutional types. These differences can provide a broad view of what each OER production program may have in common, and what could eventually become an industry standard. However, those differences can also highlight the barriers to standardization; how one program differs from another is as important as what they have in common.

This report serves as a contemporary record of the information available at the time, and is meant to provide a foundation for further study as the programs represented in the study improve and build on their current processes in order to adapt to the changing landscape of open education. Over time, it will become more clear which workflows are effective, and the open education movement will grow to fulfill a clearly recognized need in higher education.