Learning Opportunities With Creation of Open Source Textbooks (LOW COST) Act of 2009 - Requires each federal agency that expends more than $10 million in a fiscal year on scientific education and outreach to use at least 2% of such funds for collaboration on the development and implementation of open source materials as an educational outreach effort.
Directs such agencies, under the joint guidance of the Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Secretary of Energy (DOE), to collaborate with each other or with any federally supported laboratory or university-based research program to develop, implement, and establish procedures for checking the veracity, accuracy, and educational effectiveness of open source materials that: (1) contain a comprehensive set of textbooks or other educational materials covering topics in college-level physics, chemistry, or math; (2) such agencies post on a Federal Open Source Material Website, which shall be available to the public without charge; (3) are updated prior to each academic year with the latest research and information ; and (4) are free of copyright violations.
Requires the Director and the Secretary to award joint grants to eligible entities to: (1) develop and implement such open source materials; and (2) evaluate and report to the Director and Secretary on the materials produced.