About OER Development in Pressbooks
Publishing an OER in Pressbooks
Abbey Elder
The ISU Digital Press, a unit of the Iowa State University Library, is an open access publisher that supports the publication of journals, conference proceedings, books, and textbooks.
Textbooks published through the Digital Press are compiled in Pressbooks to allow for greater flexibility in the presentation of interactive and media-rich content.
Authors interested in publishing open textbooks through the Digital Press should submit a Digital Press Textbook Proposal Form.
After your form is received, the Digital Press team will follow up to discuss your timeline, goals, and project needs. Additional support available on campus will be discussed at this meeting for those who need it.
What is Pressbooks?
Pressbooks is online software that enables authors and publishers to design and format any kind of book, including:
- PDF: for print or print on demand
- EPUB: for Nook, Kobo, Kindle and most other ebook platforms
- Webbook: for online, interactive publications
Pressbooks is used by publishers and educational institutions around the world. All book formats are produced using templates that are optimized to look great in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. File exports produced with Pressbooks can be exported and downloaded from Pressbooks and distributed or shared however you like. The advantages of Pressbooks include:
- A simple, familiar interface;
- Easy embedding of multimedia content;
- Inclusion of interactive elements through H5P, Hypothes.is, and other tools;
- Integration with Canvas through the LTI;
- Incorporation of mathematical equations through MathJax and QuickLatex.
This content was adapted from “Introduction to Pressbooks” in the Pressbooks User Guide, available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
