How a Diamond Open Access Publisher Expanded into Open Textbooks
Quick Facts
Institution: University of Groningen Press (UGP)
Location: Groningen, Netherlands
Founded: 2017
Institution Type: Library-led diamond open access university press
Open Textbook Program Launched: 2021
Primary Goal: Develop a sustainable institutional service for creating and supporting open textbooks and other open educational resources
Challenge: Supporting faculty who wanted interactive, multimedia-rich learning materials while building workflows that could scale beyond a pilot project
Why Pressbooks: Flexible publishing platform that supports multimedia, H5P, social annotation, multiple export formats, and collaborative textbook development workflows
Key Success Factor: Listening to faculty needs early and often
View the institution’s Pressbooks catalog
Overview
The University of Groningen Press (UGP) is a Diamond Open Access university press based in the Netherlands and a member of the Netherlands University Presses (NUPs) network. Since its founding in 2017, the press has supported the publication of Diamond Open Access scholarly journals and books.
In 2021, UGP expanded into a closely related—but distinct—area of open publishing by launching an open textbook pilot. As part of the University’s broader commitment to open education and open science, the initiative explored how UGP could apply its scholarly publishing expertise and open infrastructure to help faculty create high-quality open textbooks and other open educational resources.
What began as a pilot has since developed into an institutional service supporting multiple models of textbook production, enabling collaboration across institutions, and supporting the creation of interactive learning materials designed for teaching and learning contexts.
Challenge: Supporting a New Kind of Publishing Output
The challenge facing the press was how to help faculty create and maintain engaging learning materials that could keep pace with changing pedagogical needs. Initially, the team assumed creating open textbooks would be much like publishing the Open Access books and journals they already produced.
We really thought in terms of normal open access books,” said Head of University of Groningen Press Margreet Nieborg. “How different can a textbook be?
That assumption began to shift as they spoke with instructors. Faculty needs varied across disciplines: some struggled with the high cost of commercial textbooks, others with content that quickly became outdated or insufficiently tailored to local contexts and specialized subject matter. Across these conversations, a consistent theme emerged—faculty were looking for resources that could support active learning, not just deliver content.
They described a desired move away from static formats toward interactive, multimedia-rich materials, including quizzes, video and audio content, H5P activities, and tools such as Hypothesis for annotation. These were not requests for digital replicas of textbooks, but for learning resources designed to be used in teaching.
Those requests forced the press to rethink its assumptions and instead of approaching textbooks as books, they began approaching them as learning environments.
Solution: Intuitive, Easy to Use Platform with Rich Multimedia Capabilities
UGP adopted Pressbooks as the primary platform for its open textbook initiative. Because Pressbooks is built on WordPress, many instructors found the environment immediately familiar and easy to use. Faculty could therefore focus on content creation rather than learning complicated publishing workflows.
It has to be easy to use… it is built on WordPress for us, so most people feel comfortable with it right away, and no technical skills were needed and it’s also very flexible.
Margreet Nieborg, Head of University of Groningen Press
The platform also supported the interactive features instructors were requesting, including:
- H5P activities and quizzes
- Embedded multimedia
- Social annotation through Hypothesis
- Multiple export formats
- LMS integrations
Supporting Student Participation
As the pilot evolved, UGP began supporting a wider range of publishing models.
Some projects followed a traditional author-led approach, with faculty developing and maintaining content. In other cases, textbook production was integrated directly into course design, with students contributing written material during the semester. These contributions were then edited and assembled into openly licensed textbooks.
This approach shifted students from passive recipients of content to active contributors in the creation of learning resources.
We saw that by involving students in creating open textbooks, they are not just passive learners in the classroom, but they can become way more engaged and active.
Margreet Nieborg, Head of University of Groningen Press
Finding and Adapting Existing OER
Being part of the Pressbooks community also meant instructors had access to thousands of openly licensed textbooks they could adapt and customize instead of starting from scratch. In one case, an instructor approached the press in May hoping to use an open textbook in September. By adapting and customizing an existing Pressbooks text, the project moved from concept to classroom in just a few months.
Throughout the pilot, the press focused on providing structured support to authors, including:
- Guidance on open licensing and Creative Commons
- Support for peer review and quality assurance
- Training on authoring and publishing workflows
- Collaboration with library and IT services
- Assistance with integrating textbooks into teaching and learning environments
Rather than adopting a one-size-fits-all approach, UGP treated each textbook as a unique project and tailored support accordingly. This flexibility became one of the program’s defining strengths. Rather than forcing projects into a standardized model, the press adapted its workflows to meet the needs of individual instructors, courses, and disciplines.
The Impact
The pilot helped UGP deepen its understanding of how open textbooks function within higher education as a distinct publishing category from scholarly output.
Faculty gained new ways to develop teaching materials that better reflected local contexts, disciplinary requirements, and emerging areas of study. Students became active contributors to learning resources, participating directly in their creation and adaptation.
Most significantly, the initiative created a foundation for institutional development beyond Open Access publishing alone. Today, UGP supports a growing portfolio of open textbook projects and collaborates with other Dutch universities through a shared Pressbooks infrastructure.
The press is now focused on transitioning from pilot funding to a sustainable service model, expanding institutional expertise, and supporting new forms of open educational publishing that connect scholarly publishing infrastructure with teaching and learning practice.
UG, photo: Silvio Zangarini