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OER and Other Zero-Cost Instructional Materials

Introduction

Ebooks and other library materials are discoverable in your library catalog and potentially usable in your classroom as an alternative to a traditional textbook.  Even more options exist, such as content found on the open web, which might be subject to traditional copyright (i.e., not Creative Commons licensed). This page will identify options to make these non-open resources available to your students.

Disclaimer

The creators of this guide are not legal experts in copyright, nor are we the copyright police. This guide is intended to provide resources, but not advice in regards to what you can and cannot do in your courses. Interpretation of and adherence to copyright law is up to you.

Best Practices

Using library materials and other non-open resources as course materials might be complicated to navigate, but can be made simple if you rely on a few best practices:

  1. Respect copyright, licenses, and your library's policies
  2. Provide a complete citation (author, title, publication, volume and issue number (if applicable), publication year and page numbers (if applicable)
  3. Provide a stable link directly to the resource (including your library's proxy information if neccessary) 
  4. Don't rely on fair use 
  5. Seek permission if in doubt
  6. Contact your librarian with questions

Infographic describing how different content in PDF format should be included in a Canvas course.

Suggested Readings

American University Library (2010). What Faculty Need to Know About Copyright for Teaching.

Benson, Sara (2017). Face to Face Teaching Copyright Exception [Video].

California State University, Chico (2019). Using Copyrighted Works in the Classroom.

Manchester University (2019). Copyright for Faculty.