40 Maintain the Book
Another flaw in the human character is that everybody wants to build and nobody wants to do maintenance.
-Kurt Vonnegut[1]
It can be said — or is assumed — that a textbook released with an open-copyright licence is maintained by the community that uses it. However, the reality is that many open textbooks aren’t changed — at least the original versions — once they’ve been published. Instructors who adopt an open textbook might customize it for their own use and maintain a private copy, but the community may or may not benefit from these improvements.
Textbooks that have an individual or organization that takes responsibility for its ongoing quality and viability tend to experience the highest adoption rates. At BCcampus Open Education, we have learned that the most successful textbooks are the ones with authors that take an active interest in their maintenance by paying attention to errors, noting potential improvements, and promoting their book amongst colleagues.
The first step when creating your post-publication plan is to layout how your completed book will be maintained. This involves setting up ways to receive and record feedback, fixing reported errors, and planning for revisions and new editions. There is a lot to keep track of, so setting up a schedule can be helpful.
Feedback
Give your readers a way to offer feedback about your textbook. Some authors do this by adding a line to the preface or introduction that invites suggestions. You can provide your contact information such as an email or create a feedback page can be added to the front or back section of the textbook. This feedback page should contain details about the kind of feedback you’re looking for and how the reader can submit comments.
If the textbook is housed in an online platform that doesn’t use page numbers, it can be difficult for readers to clearly describe what section of the text they want to comment on. In your call for feedback, encourage readers to be as specific as possible in their description of the location of their comments. Alternatively, some online platforms have a comments feature that can be enabled. Another option would be to use an external (and open source) annotation system, such as Hypothes.is [New Tab], which allows users to leave comments directly on a web page.
Think about how you will process feedback. The treatment for each item will depend on what has been reported: an error, new information, a potential resource to add, or suggestion on the structure of the textbook. It is also good practice to respond to recommendations by thanking your colleague for taking the time to write to you. If you have information about how to use your textbook or ideas about supplementary materials, include these in your response.
Another way to collect feedback on your textbook is to give instructors the opportunity to submit a review of your textbook. (See Textbook Reviews.)
Errors
Regardless of how carefully a book is copy edited and proofrea