by Jonathan Grunert
In the COVID-19 crisis, Open has been in education news, largely related to limited-time free access to various tools and platforms. One of the most prominent stories has been the creation of the National Emergency Library by Archive.org, with the suspension of waitlisting for many of its books. Others, like Springer Publishing, are making their open access materials more easily discoverable.
There is one caveat to these companies making their work freely available: They are free, not open. These vendors are offering limited-time free access to their resources. They are not making them open, or available for modification, adaptation, and reproduction. Nevertheless, these resources are useful, and a valuable contribution to alleviating financial stress students may be facing.