This section will provide a brief introduction to copyright basics that you may encounter while using and licensing OER.
Creative Commons licenses are the most widely used type of open license. There are six different Creative Commons licenses available, each with a different set of conditions for re-use and adaptation of works.
Always check the license to determine if your intended use of an OER falls within the license terms.
Learn more about Creative Commons licenses here, or check out Creative Commons for Educators and Librarians by Creative Commons, published by the American Library Association.
The next step in using OER is to ensure you have correctly attributed the work. Except for works in the public domain, all works with a Creative Commons license require attribution.
An attribution requires four parts, which can be recalled with the acronym TASL:
Example of a correct attribution for a work you have reused:
The SIFT graphic by Mike Caulfield (2019) is licensed under CC BY 4.0.
More information about how to attribute sources can be found on the Creative Commons Wiki.