INFORMATION FOR
This spring, the David and Lorraine Cheng Library is proud to offer the Pressbooks online publishing system to University faculty and staff.
Pressbooks is a web-based application designed for creating and publishing texts, described by its creators as “the CMS (content management system) for books.” Pressbooks operates on WordPress, the world’s most popular web content management system, currently powering over 40% of all sites on the Internet.
WordPress is highly regarded for its usability and flexibility and for its use of Open Source software. Pressbooks builds upon the WordPress plugin architecture: instead of blog entries or static web pages, book authors create sections and chapters, along with front matter, indexes, and other standard book components.
Initially designed for self-publishing eBooks, complete with tools for submitting titles into online marketplaces such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble, Pressbooks rapidly evolved into a popular tool for composing and managing print-on-demand scholastic textbooks. With Creative Commons licensing, enabling remixing, revising, and redistributing content, Pressbooks soon became a natural component of the Open Education Resource (OER) movement, generating low- or no-cost high-quality course materials. On a network of Pressbooks, every author can contribute and participate in different capacities, including as editors and contributors to other books. In addition to authoring original work, Pressbooks makes it easy to distribute OER items in various formats, including print-ready PDF and mobile device EPUB files.
Using Pressbooks, William Paterson University faculty can compose their course texts individually or collaboratively, “clone” (import) and modify openly licensed books, and combine content from other sources into their custom textbooks and workbooks. These sources can include the Pressbooks collection of curated open educational content, accessible at https://pressbooks.directory. The resulting materials can be published online, integrated into a class Blackboard site, and exported as print-ready PDFs and mobile-friendly EPUB documents.
Since Pressbook’s introduction at William Paterson University, several faculty members have experimented with developing their own OER content. Dr. Kendall Martin and Prof. Patricia Bush have utilized the software to create a custom Microbiology Laboratory Manual. Librarian Richard Kearney is adapting and remixing content for a Modern World History course. In addition, Professor Emeritus Marie Friquegnon donated her original Philosophy textbook on Ethical Well Being, Finding Happiness While Being Good, to the William Paterson University collection.
In addition to participating in other OER initiatives, the Library looks forward to supporting faculty Pressbooks adoption through workshops, tutorials, and individual consultations. For further information and assistance using Pressbooks, please contact David Williams, Digital Initiatives and Special Collections Librarian at williamsd110@wpunj.edu, and visit our Pressbooks catalog at https://press.wpunj.edu/catalog/ for access to our collection.
