Introduction

This text addresses the role of Open Educational Resources in education and places the OER movement within broader contexts of academic publishing, copyright considerations, pedagogy, and advocacy and adoption. Major topics covered include:

• The ecosystem of academic publishing
• Fundamentals of copyright for librarians and educators, Creative Commons, Fair Use, and Public Domain
• History and context of Creative Commons
• History and context of Open Access and Open Educational Resources
• OER advocacy, initiatives, funding, and goal setting

Acknowledgements:

Thanks to the Jennryn Wetzler and the Creative Commons organization for their help, expertise and time in putting together and reviewing content for this book.  To Isabel Soto Luna, UNO Library, for contributions to chapters on Fair Use and Creative Commons.  I would also like acknowledge Marlina Davidson and Ashley Severson and the team at Innovative and Learning Centric Initiatives at University of Nebraska at Omaha, and in particular Joe Sparano, for endless patience in guiding me along the path to completion.

“Open Educational Resources for Librarians and Educators” materials are owned by the Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska and protected under copyright laws. © 2024 Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska. Licensed CC BY-NC 4.0.