INDIANAPOLIS—The Private Academic Library Network of Indiana (PALNI) is pleased to announce the release of “Comparative Vertebrate and Human Anatomy: Ecology, Evolution, and Function,” a new peer-reviewed open textbook funded through a PALSave Textbook Creation Grant.
This innovative book takes an ecology- and function-oriented approach to vertebrate structure and evolution, offering a fresh perspective for students and faculty. As an open educational resource (OER), “Comparative Vertebrate and Human Anatomy” is freely accessible to educators, students, and researchers worldwide, removing financial barriers to learning.
The foreword underscores the book’s modern approach and thoughtful perspective, stating:
“Comparative Vertebrate and Human Anatomy brings together an outstanding team of authors to update and refresh how the discipline is presented to students. Thoughtfully centered around five Core Concepts [...] the text begins with an outline of overarching themes in Comparative Anatomy, and follows with detailed treatment of the specific organ systems and their variation across vertebrate groups. [...]The authors take care to acknowledge that the history of Anatomy is rife with examples of exclusionary and ethically compromised practices. But, with a care that shows their love of the discipline, the authors have devoted their efforts to make Comparative Anatomy a field that is widely accessible to students and welcomes inquiry.”
The PALSave Textbook Creation Grant Program provides faculty at PALNI-supported institutions with funding to develop open textbooks that are freely available online, contributing to a nationwide effort to reduce the cost of course materials for college students. Each grant provides up to $6,500 per project or $5,000 per author. Currently, 14 grant-funded titles have been published or are in production through PALNI.
“Through PALSave, PALNI is committed to reducing the cost of learning materials for students while ensuring faculty have high-quality, adaptable resources," says Amanda Hurford, PALNI Scholarly Communications Director and PALSave program lead. "We are grateful to the authors for making materials like this widely available.”
In addition to support from PALSave, this project received funding from the Gans Collections and Charitable Fund and the Saint Mary’s College Center for Women’s Intercultural Leadership. Project Manager Sue Wiegand, Scholarly Communications Librarian at Saint Mary’s College, also contributed expertise to the book’s development.
“Comparative Vertebrate and Human Anatomy: Ecology, Evolution, and Function,” is available for free through the PALNI Open Press.
Visit PALSave: PALNI Affordable Learning online to learn more about affordable education opportunities available to PALNI supported institutions.
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PALNI's PALSave Textbook Creation Grant Program awards funding to faculty members from PALNI-supported institutions to create open textbooks.
Faculty are periodically invited to submit creation grant proposals for the courses they teach. Textbooks may cover any discipline at the undergraduate or postgraduate level. PALNI seeks proposals for textbooks geared toward specific fields of study that meet the inclusion criteria for the Open Textbook Library. Projects are selected for funding based on proposal quality, clearly defined goals, need within the current open access body of work, and adoption potential within PALNI schools and beyond.
PALNI coordinates peer review, copyediting, layout, and hosting services to assist grant recipients in their textbook creation. Each textbook is also supported by a local project manager to monitor progress and answer questions throughout development. The open textbooks are published on the PALNI Open Press-supported Pressbooks platform alongside other faculty-contributed works and are ultimately submitted to the Open Textbook Library and OER repositories. Visit the PALSave website to learn more: palni.org/palsave.
The Private Academic Library Network of Indiana (PALNI) is a non-profit organization that supports collaboration for library and information services for 23 colleges, universities and seminaries throughout the state. From its inception in 1992, the PALNI collaboration has been a key avenue for its supported institutions to contain costs while providing more effective library services. More recently, PALNI has adopted a model of deep collaboration that pools resources and people as a tool to expand services while containing costs. Simultaneously, PALNI is expanding collaboration within its institutions and with external library partners to address challenges and build cost-effective services. Visit the PALNI website for more information. (www.palni.org)
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