OER in Context

It’s been said that librarians appreciate OER (Open Educational Resources) more than anyone else. This may be only partly true, but it is easier to see the opportunities offered by OER when viewed in the context of copyright laws. Let’s take a closer look!

Traditional Copyright

You might not know that – from the moment your pen hits the paper! – your work is legally protected under copyright.

This means that as a creator, you have many legal rights by default – which is great! 
Traditional copyright starts to feel more restrictive when you create something that you would like to be shared or distributed to others. If a work was created with the intention of being shared, traditional copyright may not be the best fit: users would have to ask the author for permission to use the work in every instance.

There is also always the option of using materials for educational or other non-commercial purposes, under Fair Use.  As the US Copyright Office explains, “Fair use is a legal doctrine that promotes freedom of expression by permitting the unlicensed use of copyright-protected works in certain circumstances.” However, because there are limitations and ambiguity in determining Fair Use, it’s much easier if the work was originally distributed under a more open license.
“Open” Licensing and Creative Commons

By “open license,” we typically mean a Creative Commons license.
These are designed to help creators extend rights to other users. For example, by attaching a Creative Commons license to your work, you can indicate to others that it is only meant to be used non-commercially (NC), or make sure the content is only re-distributed “as is,” without any changes (ND, indicating “no-derivatives”). 
If you like, you can also use the license to allow users the right to “remix” the content – i.e., take your work, change it, and re-distribute it to others. These licenses are considered the most “open,” because they give users the most flexibility to use the work.


The Creative Commons licenses look  like this image to the left: there are different variations depending on the license.
We’ll take a closer look at those icons in a future post!