At BMCC, the library and the CETLS are partnering to help faculty develop alternatives to physical textbooks. The money is from textbook funds and comes from the library. We issued a cfp in October for faculty to propose a project. Our deadline for submissions was Monday and we got 20 applications for 15 spots. I had a chance to read through them all, so I can comment on what the motives seem to be. Applicants are excited about saving students money but many of them are also focusing on relevance. They work in fields–like nursing and graphic design–which change frequently and they feel that the textbooks are never up-to-date. Other applicants are philosophically committed to open sources and still others want to help students access “real” sources, not pre-digested secondary texts. We have a good diversity of applicants from across the disciplines, including career programs. In the Spring, the Outreach Librarian and I will offer a series of four workshops to help faculty learn about OER and apply what they learn. We expect this to be a very collaborative effort since some faculty are already familiar with OER. I’m happy to answer any questions and eager to hear your ideas.