3 Prerequisites: Information for Authors

You will need the following:

Seek further advice from the Scholarly Publishing Consultant.

  • Create a draft of your work before Library submission
    • Track third-party content and Creative Commons-licensed content using the OER Content Tracker.
    • Develop your content in Word format.
      • Use the Word Styles menu to format headings. Include placeholders for images, tables, and multimedia content.
      • Decide on the textbook outline. Which front and back matter will you include in your textbook? Consider including an ‘Acknowledgement of Country’. The Library will add an Inclusivity, Diversity, Equality, Accessibility (IDEA) statement to your text.
      • Consider embedding video and multimedia content, e.g., H5P. These open textbooks include examples of multimedia use. If you intend to embed video, you must correctly attribute the original source. Your school librarian can help you with this.
      • Use the library’s Accessibility and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) checklists to check your content. This information about the accessibility and DEI of the textbook content will be added to the IDEA statement in the text.
      • The Scholarly Publishing Consultant will source external editing services to proofread, structure and copy-edit your work.

Seek further advice from the Scholarly Publishing Consultant about submitting your work to the Library.

  • Upon Library submission
    • Once the Library approves your submission, the Digital Publishing Librarian will upload and format your content in Western Open Books. The Library will liaise with you throughout this process.
    • The Digital Publishing Librarian will design a cover image with a Western Open Books visual identity (‘logo’) for you.
    • After the Scholarly Publishing Librarian has checked and approved the quality of the open textbook, downloadable files will be made available, and the textbook will be published.
    • The Library will work with you to develop a promotions pack. The Library will promote your work, and you can use your promotions pack to plan how you will promote and maximise the impact of your open textbook.
    • The Library will provide you with relevant analytics to support you in your academic promotions.

Licence

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Western Open Books Quick Start Guide Copyright © 2022 by Lucy Walton is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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