Research Guides: Open Educational Resources: Locating Open Resources

Open Educational Resources

Please do not hesitate to reach out to Amanda Langdon, OER Librarian, if you have any questions or would like assistance searching!

ANLangdon@adams.edu / 719-587-7173

Recommended OER-Finding Resources

OER Commons
"OER Commons is a public digital library of open educational resources" (From the OER Commons home page).
Open Textbook Library
Textbooks available through Center for Open Education, University of Minnesota.
OpenStax
Peer-Reviewed textbooks available through 501(c)(3) managed by Rice University.
Locating OER Resources (Georgia Southern Uni) + OASIS
Library Guide lists OER Resources by Academic Departments & provides a search box to OASIS (SUNY's multi-repository search)
Open Oregon Educational Resources
Search all adopted material "that Oregon community college and university instructors are using to reduce textbook costs in their courses."
LibreTexts
"The World's Most Popular Online Textbook Platform" and "LibreTexts is a non-profit organization" collaborating with CA State University's Affordable LEarning Solutions, US Dept. of Education, UC Davis, Merlot, & National Science Foundation (From the LibreTexts homepage).

Open Ancillary Materials

More Than Textbooks: Exploring Ancillary OER Materials
While this may be geared more towards presentations by OER Librarians, the information is really for faculty! (Amber Hoye, creator)
LibreTexts: ADAPT
LibreText's Adaptive Learning Assessment System -- a system of pre-built questions and assignments (quizzes) of groups of questions assembled by other users.
OpenStax Hub
OER Commons Hub is a venue for instructors to share ancillary materials that they have created to pair with OpenStax textbooks.
OpenStax Instructor Account (FREE)
OpenStax also offers unique textbook-specific sets for teaching that can include PowerPoint slides, solutions manuals, test banks, review questions, and more!
OpenStax Tutor
"Enables better learning for your students and easy course creation for you. With digital reading, personalized homework, a library of thousands of assessments, and LMS integration, OpenStax Tutor works well for online, hybrid, and in-person courses."
WeBWork
An Open-source online homework system for math and science courses. WeBWorK is supported by the MAA and the NSF and comes with a National Problem Library (NPL) of over 20,000 homework problems.

Good, General OER-Finding Resources (alphabetical)

BCcampus OER (browse)
British Columbia Campus system's browse option for curated OER.
DOAB (Directory of Open Access Books)
"DOAB is a community-driven discovery service that indexes and provides access to scholarly, peer-reviewed open access books and helps users to find trusted open access book publishers. All DOAB services are free of charge and all data is freely available."
eCampus Ontario OER
Open Library of curated material from the Ontario campus system.
GALILEO Open Learning Materials
GALILEO Open Learning Materials is [a] USG [University System of Georgia]-wide repository for all created resources under Affordable Learning Georgia, including resources created under Textbook Transformation Grants, our open textbooks created in partnership with the University of North Georgia Press, and all other ALG programs.
Internet Archive Scholar
"This fulltext search index includes over 25 million research articles and other scholarly documents preserved in the Internet Archive. The collection spans from digitized copies of eighteenth century journals through the latest Open Access conference proceedings and pre-prints crawled from the World Wide Web."
Lumen Learning
Open resources including courseware for faculty.
Mason OER Metafinder (MOM)
Discovery search across 19 Open sources. Is NOT a repository or database. Suggested use: make sure “OER-specific sites” is checked to narrow down results.
MERLOT
Program of CA State University System & partners. "The MERLOT system provides access to curated online learning and support materials and content creation tools, led by an international community of educators, learners and researchers" (From the Merlot homepage).
MIT Open CourseWare
First Open Courses made publicly available. Include syllabi, readings, etc.
OAPEN - Open Access Publishing in European Networks
"OAPEN promotes and supports the transition to open access for academic books by providing open infrastructure services to stakeholders in scholarly communication. We work with publishers to build a quality-controlled collection of open access books and provide services for publishers, libraries, and research funders in the areas of hosting, deposit, quality assurance, dissemination, and digital preservation."
OASIS: SUNY'S Openly Available Sources Integrated Search
Discovery search, NOT a repository or database. "OASIS is a search tool that aims to make the discovery of open content easier. OASIS currently searches open content from 78 different sources and contains 323,948 records" (From OASIS' "About" page).
OER Project
OER Resources for History. "OER Project courses make sense of our world by connecting the past to the present with an eye toward the future. Everything is free, online, and totally adaptable to meet your students' individual needs."
OERSI
As a central search entry point, OERSI connects OER repositories of distributed state initiatives, institutional repositories of universities and libraries, and subject-specialized repositories for OER. Materials are made available through the connected sources.
OpenMichigan
University of Michigan's Institutional Repository
Open Research Library
The Open Research Library (ORL) is planned to include all Open Access book content worldwide on one platform for user-friendly discovery, offering a seamless experience navigating more than 20,000 Open Access books.
Openverse
"All Openverse content is under a Creative Commons license or is in the public domain."
Pressbooks Directory
Pressbooks Directory: Search over 2100 Open Access books.
Pressbooks (more broadly): allows faculty to "find, adapt, create, and contribute to educational content that is customizable, accessible, interactive, and, if the author chooses, free."
Teaching Commons
Open Educational Resources from Leading Colleges & Universities (Worldwide)
TextBookGo
TextBookGo.com is your number one source for free etextbooks. We bring you free digital textbooks from all sources and for all courses! We offer free etextbooks for many subject categories and for all tablet and digital textbook viewing devices.

Search-by-Discipline OER-Finding Resources

GoCognitive
Free educational tools for cognitive neuroscience -- Free access to materials for students, educators, and researchers in cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience.
Humanities Commons
MLA-provided network for people working in the humanities. Includes the latest open-access scholarship and teaching materials. Discover the latest open-access scholarship and teaching materials. Offers interdisciplinary connections and allows for sharing in the repository.
OER by Discipline
BC Campus' OER by Discipline Directory
OER by Discipline Guide McMaster University
An Open Education reference of OER listed by subject area and disciplines with McMaster academic programming
SkillsCommons
Workforce Development Digital Library -- FREE and OPEN Workforce Training Materials for 21st Century Employment
SmARTHistory: The Center for Public Art History
With 503 contributors from 201 colleges, universities, museums, and research centers, SmartHistory is the most-visited art history resource in the world.

Finding Open Images

These resources should help you find images that are openly licensed for reuse. Always be sure to check the license type before using anything you find online!

Disabled & Here
"This is a disability-led effort to provide free & inclusive stock images from our own perspective, with photos and illustrations celebrating disabled Black, Indigenous, people of color (BIPOC)."
Disability:IN
"Disability:IN is pleased to offer disability inclusive stock photography to the public. In an effort to empower business to achieve disability inclusion and equality, we encourage corporations to use this in recruitment material, marketing material, internal and external communications, etc. These photos were taken by Jordan Nicholson, and can be contacted at jordan.n.photo@gmail.com. Please take note of the photo usage guidelines"
Flickr
Run your keyword search, then on results page, choose desired CC license under “Any License” (top left).
Gender Spectrum Collection (Vice)
"The Gender Spectrum Collection is a stock photo library featuring images of trans and non-binary models that go beyond the clichés. This collection aims to help media better represent members of these communities as people not necessarily defined by their gender identities—people with careers, relationships, talents, passions, and home lives."
Google Image Search
to narrow down to openly-licensed content, run your keyword search, click on "Tools" then "Usage Rights", select "Creative Commons licenses".
Human Development Institute (Flickr)
"The vision of the UK Human Development Institute is the full participation and contribution of all people with disabilities in all aspects of society. These photos can be downloaded and used to create and enhance visual and digital products, social media posts, and project websites."
Images of Empowerment
"A free library of images celebrating women’s lives and their work in 13 countries around the world."
Iwaria
"Free African high quality photos for your projects."
Nappy
"Beautiful photos of Black and Brown people, for free."
Open Images from Open Oregon
Great resource for how to find (specifics) and correctly use images, as well as recommended places to search for openly licensed images.
Openverse
Find ~700 million images and audio files across dozens of open repositories. Openverse provides proper rich-text attributions.
Pexels
"The best free stock photos, royalty free images & videos shared by creators"
PICNOI
Stock photo library of diverse, multi-racial images licensed CC-BY.
Pixabay
"Over 4.2 million+ high quality stock images, videos and music shared by our talented community"
SmartHistory
"They have sections on Africa, Asia, Oceania, the Islamic World, Global cultures (1980-present), etc. Some areas may be better represented than others, but it's a great resource to start with if you want a one-stop shop for a lot of content."
Unsplash
"The internet's source for visuals. Powered by creators everywhere." [Unsplash photos are made to be used freely. Our license reflects that. All photos can be downloaded and used for free; commercial & non-commercial purposes; no permission needed (though attribution is appreciated!)]
Wikimedia Commons
Find ~75 million images (as well as sound- and video-clips). Check license types and reuse permissions!
WOC in Tech Chat (Flickr)
"The #WOCinTech photos are available under a Creative Commons Attribution-License. This means that you may copy, distribute, and display the images as long as you attribute #WOCinTech Chat or wocintechchat.com"
Finding Public Domain & Creative Commons Media
Harvard Law School Library's LibGuide: "This guide will help you find and correctly attribute public domain and Creative Commons media for your project or presentation."
Image banks with Creative Commons rights
shared from Buena Vista University's OER LibGuide, "Create OER" page.

Here are sites for subject-specific images. Some may be Creative Commons Licensed or Public Domain, but be sure to check before using any of them!

Art & Architecture:

The Met Collection
"Open Access" is an option below the search modifiers, to limit to openly-licensed content.
Open Access at the National Gallery of Art
"The National Gallery of Art has an open access policy for images of works of art in our permanent collection which the Gallery believes to be in the public domain. Images of these works are available for download free of charge for any use, whether commercial or non-commercial."
Smithsonian Open Access
"where you can download, share, and reuse millions of the Smithsonian’s images—right now, without asking. With new platforms and tools, you have easier access to more than 4.5 million 2D and 3D digital items from our collections—with many more to come. This includes images and data from across the Smithsonian’s 21 museums, nine research centers, libraries, archives, and the National Zoo."
Open access image libraries -- a handy list
A list of resources (with links) from Apollo: The International Art Magazine.

History:

Art of the Islamic World (The Met)
Not openly licensed, but free to access.
Edo: Art in Japan
National Gallery of Art, Exhibition Teaching Program
Library of Congress: Prints & Photographs Reading Room
This is an image resource, not strictly Creative Commons or openly licensed content; check licenses before reuse.
NYPL Digital Collections
"Explore 856,983 items digitized from the New York Public Library's collections. This site is a living database with new materials added every day, featuring prints, photographs, maps, manuscripts, streaming video, and more. Our collections include some content that may be harmful or difficult to view." *Check each image for copyright/licensing information before reuse!
Wellcome Collection Catalogue search
A free museum and library exploring health and human experience. *Check each image for copyright/licensing information before reuse!

Science:

NASA Images
"NASA has always told its story through its images, a few of which have become icons of human history."
NOAA Photo Library
National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration. Generally speaking, content created by government agencies is free for public use (not copyrighted).
Images: USGS
"Explore our planet through photography and imagery, including climate change and water all the way back to the 1800s when the USGS was surveying the country by horse and buggy."

Medicine:

Images from the History of Medicine
"Images from the History of Medicine (IHM) in NLM Digital Collections provides online access to images from the historical collections of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. IHM includes image files of a wide variety of visual media including fine art, photographs, engravings, and posters that illustrate the social and historical aspects of medicine dating from the 15th to 21st century." *Check each image for copyright/licensing information before reuse!
Public Health Image Library (PHIL)
from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. "The imagery showcased in the PHIL is historic in nature; the contents depicted, though appropriate at the time a photograph was captured, may no longer be appropriate in the context of the current time period, and is not to be viewed as a source of the most current public health information."

Finding Open Content (other types)

Resources for finding openly-licensed text-based content:

Google Advanced Search
Look for “usage rights” at bottom of form & select best option for you.

Resources for finding openly-licensed music:

SoundCloud
Discover Track s & Playlists
AudioNautix
"All music is composed and produced by Jason Shaw. This music is royalty free - completely free - for you to download and use (even for commercial purposes) as long as you provide credit."
Jamendo Music
"Discover new independent artists. Free streaming, Free download"
CC Mixter Collaborative Community
Creative Commons allows free non-commercial use of our music - just Attribute. (CC-BY tracks can even be used commercially with Attribution!)
Make Use Of: 14 Best Sites to Find Free Creative Commons Music
"Need to get hold of royalty-free Creative Commons music? Find everything you need for your projects on these sites."

3 Graphics for Finding CC Licensed content: Google Images, Flickr, and YouTube. Images thanks to Christine Rickabaugh, MLIS, University of Arkansas.

Public Domain Resources

Project Gutenberg
"Project Gutenberg is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to 'encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks.' It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the oldest digital library."
Internet Archive
"The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, movies/videos, moving images, and millions of books."
HathiTrust
"HathiTrust Digital Library is a large-scale collaborative repository of digital content from research libraries including content digitized via Google Books and the Internet Archive digitization initiatives, as well as content digitized locally by libraries."
Catalog of US Government Publications
The CGP is the finding tool for federal publications that includes descriptive information for historical and current publications as well as direct links to the full document, when available. Users can search by authoring agency, title, subject, and general keywords, or click on "Advanced Search" for more options. *Generally speaking, content created by government agencies is free for public use (not copyrighted).

Print-on-Demand Information

Print-on-demand is a great way for students to get print copies of open resources, if they so desire. Unlike traditionally-published textbooks, students can have both print and online versions with minimal cost. (For example, a new information literacy text costs $200; an OER printed via Lulu cost $13.61.) Some print-on-demand options are listed here; for more information about how to use these resources, contact Amanda Langdon, OER Librarian (ANLangdon@adams.edu).

ASU Print Shop
ASU's Print Shop can print and spiral bind materials. Check the website for specifics, and contact Peggy Dunn (PEDunn@adams.edu) with any questions.
Lulu
Lowest-cost resource. Shipping takes ~2 weeks.

Resources for OER Librarians

Marking Open and Affordable Courses: Best Practices & Case Studies -- Open/CCL book detailing how universities and college campuses can distinguish courses and sections that use Open content (free or low-cost for students). * Note: this link is to the "pre-print" stage, and may differ from the final product, which will be included upon release.

InclusiveAccess.Org -- InclusiveAccess.org is a one-stop-shop for information, tools, and other resources to help administrators, faculty, students, and policymakers make informed decisions about Inclusive Access and its implications for the campus community. How exactly does Inclusive Access work? Does it really really save students money? What about this kind of program is “inclusive”? Straightforward answers to these questions aren’t always easy to find.

Diverse & Inclusive Imagery
Chapter from "Enhancing Inclusion, Diversity, Equity & Accessibility (IDEA) in Open Educational Resources (OER)" Pressbooks publication by University of Southern Queensland.

Open Educational Resources

Open Educational Resources

Please do not hesitate to reach out to Amanda Langdon, OER Librarian, if you have any questions or would like assistance searching!

Recommended OER-Finding Resources

Open Ancillary Materials

Good, General OER-Finding Resources (alphabetical)

Search-by-Discipline OER-Finding Resources

Finding Open Images

Art & Architecture:

History:

Science:

Medicine:

Finding Open Content (other types)

Resources for finding openly-licensed text-based content:

Resources for finding openly-licensed music:

3 Graphics for Finding CC Licensed content: Google Images, Flickr, and YouTube. Images thanks to Christine Rickabaugh, MLIS, University of Arkansas.

Public Domain Resources

Print-on-Demand Information

Resources for OER Librarians

Open Access Resources