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The study was undertaken to understand the propensity for increased engagement with open educational practices (OEP), to include methods prioritizing student-centered teaching & learning, and awareness, use, and development of open educational resources (OER) among higher education faculty in Kyrgyzstan. The study employed a mixed-methods research design, combining qualitative and quantitative data obtained from 35 faculty, librarians, and administrators in institutions of higher education in Kyrgyzstan. This study aimed to identify current teaching practices and learning resource usage practices, gauge levels of knowledge regarding Kyrgyzstan’s Copyright law, Creative Commons licenses, and Open Educational Resources, and investigate perceptions regarding potential roles for libraries in enabling others’ learning regarding Copyright and Creative Commons, and open educational resources. Analysis of the results revealed a higher than expected gravitation toward student-centered pedagogy than previously assumed. The study also identified broad use of digital downloads as learning materials, conflation of open educational resources with free online resources, and positive perceptions of libraries’ potential to instruct regarding Kyrgyz copyright, Creative Commons, and open educational resources, and needs for further professional development training for librarians.

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Editors' CommentaryIn the Spring of 2014 I began trying to enlist faculty for an Open Education Week panel discussion -our first at the Virginia Tech's University Libraries. I talked with seventeen faculty members regarding their thoughts on textbook adoption and selection of learning materials with the hope that faculty members would freely and publically share their thoughts about selection or design of learning materials. One said yes right away. Some never replied. Some were, themselves, textbook authors and told me of their experiences writing, designing, and formatting their textbook and the resulting miniscule royaltieswhich they did not want to lose. Several had adopted 'custom textbooks' but did not want to talk about this publically. Several would have been interesting