This document discusses the challenges and benefits of open educational resources (OER) from an academic librarian's perspective. Some of the key challenges mentioned are feeling overwhelmed by the variety of OER options, keeping up with quality OER across disciplines, and establishing the library's role in OER initiatives. However, OER also provide benefits such as opportunities for collaboration with faculty on finding and creating OER, highlighting affordable course materials, and strengthening information literacy instruction.

1. OER challenges & benefits
(from an academic librarian’s perspective)
Jennifer Snoek-Brown
OER 101,Washington SBCTC
May 2016
CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

2. OER challenges
• Feeling overwhelmed with volume and variety of
OER options and repositories
• Pressure of staying up-to-date with quality OER in
various disciplines, in order to help faculty across
the curriculum
• Troubleshooting accessibility issues
• Understanding differences between creative commons licenses and
traditional copyright -- and helping articulate those differences to
faculty and students
• Establishing library role in OER academic initiatives
"OERlogo" byJörg Lohrer is in the Public Domain, CC0

3. OER challenges, continued
• Understanding faculty and staff perspectives about:
• searching for and assessing OER
• addressing barriers about using, attributing, and/or creating OER
• connecting with other stakeholders across campus (bookstore,
instructional design, etc.)
• securing buy-in with using
OER in courses
"What is Open" by Alfonso Sintjago is
licensed under CC BY 2.0 / A derivative
from the original work

4. OER benefits
• Opportunities to collaborate
with faculty in navigating,
implementing, and/or creating
OER in their own disciplines
• Highlight OER and other
affordable learning materials
to help supplement course
materials, including already
licensed -- and already paid for! -- library resources (e.g. e-books)
• Opportunity to add our voice and perspective to an emerging field
"What do libraries mean to you?" by ijclark is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

5. OER benefits, continued
• Create more dynamic information literacy lessons
(e.g. ”flipping the classroom” before library instruction sessions)
and strengthen supplemental materials (e.g. LibGuides)
• Continue to develop lifelong learning skills by exploring new
resources
• Natural alignment with new Information Literacy Framework and
pedagogical shift in librarianship
"Information Literacy" by Ewa Rozkosz is
licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0