open access textbooks?

["James J. O'Donnell" <provost@georgetown.edu>]

An important argument in favor of Open Access is the observation 
that authors of journal articles seek no pecuniary reward and are 
indeed interested mainly in seeing broadest possible 
dissemination, use, and impact of their work, and the movement 
capitalizes well on that basic motivation.  In at least one 
publishing domain, however, academics are indeed interested in 
the money:  textbooks.  On all sides, students complain about the 
high prices of textbooks, but they keep going up. Does anyone 
know of Open Access initiatives designed to bring high quality 
current science textbooks to students in universities in the 
developing world?  Movement in that direction could have very 
positive impact on millions of students in emerging societies.

Jim O'Donnell
Georgetown U.