Young Library Open Affordable and Educational Resources Policy
MISSION:
The mission of Young Library is to support the curriculum of the university, to help users gain access to information in a variety of forms, to assess the information needs of its users, and to encourage the development of information literacy in support of lifelong learning skills.
Open Affordable and Educational Resources (OAER) support the curriculum of the university by providing inexpensive / free options for course materials. These resources are usually electronic in format and are used to provide instructional documents, supplemental materials, and course outline/designs.
PURPOSE:
The purpose of the Young Library Open Affordable and Educational Resources Policy is to communicate ways that the library will be able to assist faculty in identifying and purchasing OAER materials that are the best resource to meet objectives for new and developing courses.
Definitions:
Open Affordable Resources (OAR) - Open Affordable Resources (OAR) are defined as electronic resources that can be used to meet curriculum and course objectives but are traditionally copyrighted. These materials can be purchased by the library and added to the library’s catalog/discovery system.
Open Educational Resources (OER) - Open Educational Resources (OER) are defined as electronic resources that can be used to meet curriculum and course objectives but are Creative Commons licensed. This means that the creators of these resources have released some of their rights to the documents. Ideally, OER materials should be able to meet the “5 Rs”; Retain, Reuse, Revise, Remix, and Redistribute.
E-book - E-books are defined as books that are available in an electronic format and can be read on computer or handheld device rather than in a print format.
PROCEDURES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
The librarians in Young Library will serve as a central support role for all faculty wishing to incorporate OER/OAR into a course. Among the support provided by the librarians are:
Meeting with faculty to determine their OAER needs.
Assisting faculty with identifying materials that meet course objectives using the OER Framework for Collaborative Identification
Tracking OAER being used across campus
Assisting faculty with making identified OAER materials available, through linking, into their courses.
Loading the resource into the library’s Online Catalog / Discovery system(WMS)
Troubleshooting any linkage issues that occur for that resource.
GUIDELINES FOR PURCHASE OF OAR COURSE MATERIALS:
Identifying/ Purchasing OAR resources:
OAR resources that have been identified using the OER Framework for Collaborative Identification will be submitted to the library director for potential purchase
The director will use GOBI Library Solutions from EBSCO to determine the following:
The availability of the electronic format of the resource.
That the resource provides unlimited simultaneous access to its users
Items with only one user may be purchased for accessibility for students with disabilities
That the item purchase price is less than $400.
Items with a cost of greater than $400 may be considered for purchase with justification to the director.
Created: 7.31.24
Updated: 8.1.24
