Open Education: Librarian Tool Box
About the Librarian Tool Box
[NOTE: This site is not actively updated at present.] The Librarian OER Toolbox is a collection of links to (mostly) open resources. It is designed for librarians, expert searchers, and people who "enjoy the hunt" through overwhelming volumes of information. This site represents the most comprehensive lists we have found of the places to look for open educational resources written in English. WARNING: Using this page may cause information overload. Proceed with caution.
Scrappy Strategies for Getting Started in Open Education
The OER Starter Kit (2019) and Workbook (2020)
To Boldly Go: First-year exploration of OER Initiatives (2014 PPT, but still relevant)
SPARC Open Education Leadership Program Curriculum (course)
OTN OER Librarian Bootcamp (course)
WEBINARS & RECORDINGS
Webinar recording: Effectively Encouraging Use of OER on Your Campus (Nicole Finkbeiner)
How to conduct a reference interview for Course Materials (short videos & templates) (Quill West)
Webinar recording: On Becoming Open Education Leaders (Quill West)
Webinars on various topics (CCCOER)
Import MARC records from the Open Textbook Library
READINGS
Open: The Philosophy and Practices and are Revolutionizing Education and Science Open Access & CC BY
LEARNING COMMUNITIES (online)
OpenLearningHub Includes videos, blogs, Twitter discussions and more. See also: #OpenLearning17 #OpenLearning18 #OpenLearning19 on Twitter
LEARNING ABOUT OPEN PEDAGOGY
Open Pedagogy Notebook (DeRosa/Jhanghani)
Six perspectives on Open Pedagogy (Year of Open)
Discussion on Open Pedagogy (CCCOER)
Open Pedagogy as a foundational concept (BCCampus)
See also: #openped or #openpedagogy on Twitter
LEARNING ABOUT OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
"LearnOER" in 10 modules (Open Washington)
Adopting Open Educational Resources in the Classroom (Linda Williams & Lumen Learning)
See also: #oer on Twitter
LEARNING MORE ABOUT COPYRIGHT & CREATIVE COMMONS
Coursera MOOC: Copyright for Educators & Librarians Framework for Analyzing any U.S. Copyright Problem
Book: Copyright Law for Educators & Librarians (not open access)
Article: The Beauty of Some Rights Reserved: Introducing Creative Commons to Librarians, Faculty, and Students
Video: Get Creative: Being the Origin and Adventures of the Creative Commons Licensing Project (~6 minutes)
Creative Commons licenses (includes human readable summaries and legal text for each license)
FIND LIKEMINDED PEOPLE
Open Textbook Network (Member listserv, summer institute, and service opportunities ($)
OpenStax Institutional Partnership Program (by application. Planning, community, strategy, accountability)
SPARC Library & OER Forum (Public listserv and monthly topical teleconferences)
Community College Consortium on OER (Listserv, public webinars, advisory meetings and more)
Digital Pedagogy Lab (Institute, articles, podcasts, Journal of Hybrid Pedagogy)
CREATING OPEN TEXTBOOKS
Open Textbook Accessibility Toolkit (BCCampus)
Recorded open office hours (OTN and Rebus Community for Open Textbook Creation)
More resources at: Open Textbook Authoring & Editing
Recordings (or webinars)
- Keynote Addresses from Open Textbook Summit 2015Recorded May 28 & 29, 2015 “An Openness to Openness: The Terrifying and Liberating Process of Disrupting Higher Education” by Dr. Rajiv Jhangiani
Student Panel: "Why Openness Matters: Access, Advocacy, and the Future" Chardaye Bueckert and Erik Queenan - Join the Library-OER Community: Lessons from the FieldRecorded January 2015. Discusses OER program models adopted by research libraries. PPT: http://www.aserl.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Library-OERs_ASERL.pdf
- Videos from 2013 "Minding the Future" at #OpenVAFeaturing: Alan Levine, Audrey Watters, Kin Lane, David Wiley, and Gardener Campbell. (30 minute presentations and 1.5 hour panel discussion)
- OER Summit 2016 (University of Mary Washington)Features: Numerous faculty, students, librarians, bookstore representatives, futurists, and pedagogy experts. Full agenda is linked here: http://umw-oer-summit.economooc.com/bb-page/
What are Research Libraries doing regarding OER?
- Association of Research Libraries - SPEC Kit 351: Affordable Course Content and Open Educational ResourcesNow free online! Also available at http://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/handle/10919/71322 .
Ethics & OER
- The CARE Framework(2018) Toward a Sustainable OER Ecosystem: The Case for OER Stewardship
Gateways & Portals
OER audio, video, images, simulations, textbooks, courseware . . . for those who love to search.
Find OER | Open Professionals Education Network (OPEN)
MERLOT - Search multiple repositories
Google Advanced Search (filter usage rights)
Open Course Library (SBCTC)
Wikieducator Exemplary Collection of Open Learning Content Repositories
The Orange Grove: Florida's Digital Repository
Affordable Learning Solutions Oklahoma
Affordable Learning Solutions California State University
TAACCCT (U.S. Dept of Labor) STEM OER Matrix and Foundational OER Matrix
OER & Lower Cost Textbooks
Open Textbooks (free, Faculty-editable)
Open Stax College (Rice University) http://openstaxcollege.org
BC Campus Open ED http://open.bccampus.ca
Open Textbook Library http://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks
MERLOT (material type=open textbook) http://www.merlot.org/merlot/advSearchMaterials.htm
Open Textbooks CCCOER http://oerconsortium.org/discipline-specific
College Open Textbooks http://collegeopentextbooks.org
Open SUNY Textbooks http://opensuny.org/omp/index.php/SUNYOpenTextbooks
Lower-Cost (Faculty-Editable)
Boundless ($) https://www.boundless.com
Flatworld Knowledge ($) http://catalog.flatworldknowledge.com
Thuze ($) https://www.thuze.com
VT Libraries
VT Faculty - Contact your VT College Librarian regarding purchase of a multi-user eBook version.
VT Faculty & Students - Contact the VT OER Librarian for assistance in locating OER.
Slightly lower cost commercial Custom Textbooks (Note: these tend to have lower or zero re-sale value)
Bedford, Freeman & Worth, Cengage Learning, McGraw-Hill, Pearson, & Wiley
Open Courseware
California Learning Resource Network http://www.clrn.org
Carnegie Mellon University - Open + Free Courses http://oli.cmu.edu/learn-with-oli/see-our-free-open-courses/
CosmoLearning http://www.cosmolearning.com/
Curriki http://www.curriki.org/
MIT Open Courseware http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm
MyOpenMath https://www.myopenmath.com/
National Repository of Online Courses http://www.montereyinstitute.org/nroc/
Notre Dame OpenCourseWare http://ocw.nd.edu/
Open Courseware Library http://opencourselibrary.org
Open Yale Courses http://oyc.yale.edu/
OpenCourseWare data faceted search http://serendipity.utpl.edu.ec
OpenCourseWare Consortium http://www.ocwconsortium.org/
Peer 2 Peer University (P2PU) https://p2pu.org/en
Saylor.org Academy http://www.saylor.org
Sofia http://sofia.fhda.edu/
Stanford Online http://online.stanford.edu
Tufts OpenCourseWare http://ocw.tufts.edu
UNU Open Coursware (archived site) http://ocw.unu.edu
Utah State OpenCourseWare http://ocw.usu.edu
Initiatives
Library OER initiatives (from SPARC) - an list of OER initiatives involving libraries or librarians. Organized geographically.
LibraryAsLeader (Washington state) initiative and the BCOER Librarians group are particularly notable.
A number of international, state, regional, and local OER consortia also exist, including: OpenVA, OpenWashington, and many others. Annual conferences, such as OpenEd and Open Education Global are excellent places to explore and obtain support.
A variety of impact, project, policy and other OER maps are also available from the OER Research Hub.
Recommended Readings
Judith, Kate and Bull, David, (March 2016) Assessing the Potential for Openness: A Framework for Examining Course-Level OER Implementation in Higher Education, Education Policy Analysis Archives v24, p.42.
Billings, Marilyn, et al. (2012) “Open Educational Resources as Learning Materials: Prospects and Strategies for University Libraries” RLI 280 p2-10
Babson Survey Research Group surveys on Open Educational Resources in U.S. Higher Education. (2012 & 2014). The 2014 survey focuses on level of faculty awareness of OER.
Chae, Boyoung and Jenkins, Mark (2015) "A Qualitative Investigation of Faculty Open Educational Resource Usage in the Washington Community and Technical College System: Models for Support and Implementation" Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges
Collins, Sue and Levy, Peter (2013) “Guide to the Use of Open Educational Resources in K-12 and Postsecondary Education” Software & Information Industry Association.
Florida Virtual Campus (2012) 2012 Faculty and Administrator Open Educational Resources Survey. Tallahassee, FL: Author.
Kazakoff-Lane, Carmen [2014] “Environmental Scan and Assessment of OERs, MOOCs and Libraries: What Effectiveness and Sustainability Means for Libraries’ Impact on Open Education”
Kleinman, Mill (2008) “The Beauty of ‘Some Rights Reserved’: Introducing Creative Commons to librarians, faculty, and students. C&RL News. Vol.69, No. 10.
Kleymeer, Pieter, Kleinman, Molly, and Hansee, Ted (2010) “Reaching the Heart of the University: Libraries and the Future of OER” Presented at the Open Education 2010 Conference, November 2-4, 2010. Barcelona Spain.
Charleston Conference (Nov 2014) issue "Library Roles with Textbook Affordability" Against the Grain 26(5). [Nearly 50+ pages Library and OER projects descriptions] Not Open Access. Ask your Collections Development Department if they have a copy or online subscription.]
Walz, Anita (2015) "Open and Editable: Exploring Library Engagement in Open Educational Resource Adoption, Adaptation and Authoring" Virginia Libraries. Vol.61:23-31.
License
All original content on this page is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. 3rd-party content including, but not limited to images and linked items, are subject to their own license terms. 
Tools and more tools
- CARE FrameworkThe purpose of the CARE Framework is to articulate a set of shared values and a collective vision for the future of education and learning enabled by the widespread adoption and use of OER. It aims to address the question of how an individual, institution, or organization seeking to be a good steward can contribute to the growth and sustainability of the OER movement consistent with the community’s values.
- Assessing Campus Readiness for OERMSWord worksheet from Achieving the Dream (2016)
- Open Education Campus Action PlanCreated by SPARC (CC BY 4.0) www.sparc.arl.org
- Roadmap to OER Adoption WorksheetCC BY. Provided by the CCCOER.
- Conducting an OER Reference InterviewThese videos are extrordinary! Librarian conversations with faculty around OER closely resemble reference interviews. These three videos and linked template will allow you to look over the shoulder of an experienced Open Education Librarian. Listen to how she frames the conversation and what questions she asks.
- Professional Development Guide from the Library Publishing CoalitionLinks to free online courses, videos, webinars, resources, readings and fee-based program information. Hosted by the University of Kentucky Libraries.
- Creative Commons CertificatesDesigned to help skill up educators on the value, use, and implementation of Creative Commons (CC) and Open Educational Resources (OER) both for their personal development and for their community.
- Open Licensing Playbook (for U.S. Federal Agencies)Produced by the U.S. State Department, January 2017.
Open eLearning Content Repositories (by topic)
- Open eLearning Content Repositories (by Subject)WikiEducator collection of open eLearning Content Repositories.
VT Library eBooks
Interactive Open Educational Resources by Call Number: Online (Limited to VT Users only - Use Off Campus SignIn)ISBN: 9781118277454Publication Date: 2014-01-21
Communities & Author Tools
- Authoring Open Textbooks: A Guide for People Who Want to Make Open TextbooksThis guide is for faculty authors, librarians, project managers and others who are involved in the production of open textbooks in higher education and K-12. Content includes a checklist for getting started, publishing program case studies, textbook organization and elements, writing resources and an overview of useful tools. By Melissa Falldin and Karen Lauritsen
- Modifying an Open Textbook: What You Need to KnowProduced by the Editing Working Group of the Open Textbook Network (OTN) in November 2016. This is a five-step guide for faculty, and those who support faculty, who want to modify an open textbook. Step-by-step instructions for importing and editing common open textbook file and platform types are included.
- BCCampus Open Textbook Accessibility ToolkitThe goal of the Accessibility Toolkit is to provide the resources needed so that each content creator, instructional designer, educational technologist, librarian, administrator, teaching assistant, etc. has the opportunity to create a truly open and accessible textbook. An open textbook that is free and accessible for all students.
- Open Textbook Authoring Guide: A Guide to Authoring & Adapting Open TextbooksGuide for authoring open textbooks using WordPress's Pressbooks platform. Provided by British Columbia OpenCampus.