Open Educational Resources (OER): Using OER

Before adopting OER course materials, be sure to note the item's license and what it will allow you to do with the original work. Many OER creators use a Creative Commons license, which specify whether content can be used commercially, adapted, or by attribution only. See more information about different Creative Commons licenses below.

Types of Licenses

Attribution (CC BY)     

This license lets others distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon your work, even commercially, as long as they credit you for the original creation. This is the most accommodating of licenses offered. Recommended for maximum dissemination and use of licensed materials.

Attribution ShareAlike (CC BY-SA)     

This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work even for commercial purposes, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms. This license is often compared to “copyleft” free and open source software licenses. All new works based on yours will carry the same license, so any derivatives will also allow commercial use. This is the license used by Wikipedia, and is recommended for materials that would benefit from incorporating content from Wikipedia and similarly licensed projects.​

Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC)     

This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, and although their new works must also acknowledge you and be non-commercial, they don’t have to license their derivative works on the same terms.

Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA)     

This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms.

Attribution-NoDerivs (CC BY-ND)     

This license lets others reuse the work for any purpose, including commercially; however, it cannot be shared with others in adapted form, and credit must be provided to you.  *Because this license does not allow for adaptations, this is not an open/OER license.

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND)     

This license is the most restrictive of our six main licenses, only allowing others to download your works and share them with others as long as they credit you, but they can’t change them in any way or use them commercially.  *Because this license does not allow for adaptations, this is not an open/OER license.

Find more information about Creative Commons licenses here

As with any other source, attributing OER material properly is important.  At minimum, you should include:

• Title and Source/URL
• Author
• Type of license

To create your own OER attribution, try the Open Attribution Builder.

This material is based on "Attributing OER" by CCCOER, which is licensed under CC BY 4.0.

We a can help you learn how to use the library's online resources to get started with your research, locate books, or answer other general questions. Contact a librarian by
email: library@corning-cc.edu
phone: 607-962-9251
or schedule an appointment.

The Arthur A. Houghton, Jr. Library adheres to U.S. Copyright Law.  While the doctrine of "fair use" allows for instructional use, there are still some guidelines we must follow.

1. In the case of photocopied material (articles, book excerpts, etc.) only one copy may be placed on reserve. 
2. Promotional or evaluation copies of textbooks cannot be placed on reserve unless you have obtained written permission from the publisher.
3. If articles are placed on reserve for more than one semester, you must obtain permission from the publisher.

When publisher permission is required, submit a copy of this documentation along with the reserve request form.