OER, OA, and Other Resources for Faculty: Sources of OER and Other Resources

Open Access (OA)  and Open Educational Resources (OER) are not the same thing, although they are related, and overlap. OA refers to the free availability of scholarly research like ebooks and online journal articles, while OER refers to educational materials that can be freely used, reused, revised, and redistributed due to their open licensing, typically a Creative Commons license. Therefore, OER are a specific subset of OA, but not all OA materials are OER. 

Key Differences

Focus: OA focuses on scholarly research outputs, such as research articles and books. OER focuses specifically on teaching, learning, and research materials, such as textbooks, course materials, and modules. 

Permissions: OA means the content is freely available online without financial barriers, but may not include permission to modify or redistribute the content. OER includes explicit permission from the creator to retain, reuse, revise, remix, and redistribute the material. 

Licensing: OER materials are typically under Creative Commons licenses that permit further use and modification. OA materials may be under traditional copyright, restricting reuse and adaptation unless specifically noted. 

Purpose: The goal of OA is to make research openly available to the public. The goal of OER is to enable educators to create and share open educational content that can be freely adapted for their specific needs. 

Adapted from a Google AI Overview. 14 Aug 2025.

 (Open Access Logo) art designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina, Beao, and JakobVoss, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons. 14 Aug 2025.

Although most do not qualify under the strict definition of OER, just about anything you can access online through Library Services can be integrated into your online course. Isothermal Library has a proxy service, hosted by NC LIVE, that is integrated into the College's Single Sign On (SSO). This means as long as you use the correct links, any employee or current student can have immediate, seamless access to just about any ebook, ebook chapter, article, report, video, audio file, or image that is available through our information vendors. The method for obtaining these links can vary somewhat depending on the vendor and platform, so please ask the librarians for assistance in locating the linking to these resources.

Also bear in mind that you will most likely not have quite as much freedom and discretion in how you use the resources. For example, it is unlikely that the Print Shop would be legally allowed to print and bind an entire ebook, but you can still link to the ebook, and in most cases the student can download a print a certain number of pages or chapters. Best practice is to link to the resources, rather than download and repost them. 

Bear in mind, the list below includes SUGGESTIONS and it is NOT EXHAUSTIVE. Please contact the Library Services if you need help locating resources to support your classes.