New Webinar - "Comprehensive Guide to OER: Open Educational Resources for All"
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Comprehensive Guide to OER: Open Educational Resources for All
A Library 2.0 / Learning Revolution Webinar with Reed Hepler
OVERVIEW:
Have you ever had a patron ask for a book on a specific topic that wasn't available in your collections because there were dozens of holds, or because your digital licensing allowed only one person? Have patrons asked for programming when no materials existed to help you plan? What about patrons wanting to get up to speed on newer developments in a field they studied decades ago? Or have you struggled to provide high-quality, accessible instructional resources for recurring community initiatives like ESL courses, tech workshops, or public interest programming? And how do library workers preserve, expand, and tailor access to high-quality information while staying compliant with legal standards, avoiding unexpected price hikes, and eliminating licensing barriers?
Many resources solve one or two of these issues, but Open resources solve them all in one swipe.
Digital licensing, subscription bundles, and many other factors make collection development and patron programming a hassle, especially in the current climate of budget cuts and constrained staff availability and capacity. Libraries and their users need consistent, freely available resources to support personal learning, research, and "regular" reading.
This webinar offers an insight into the ecosystem of Open Access (OA) materials as an alternative resource to complicated and/or infeasible purchases, such as 1-user digital purchases or materials only available in a subscription bundle. This is not to say that copyrighted materials are not usable or needed! Still, Open materials, specifically Open Educational Resources (OERs), can supplement existing collections to provide information in copyrighted materials that cannot be purchased for one reason or another (collection development policies, purchasing budgets, staff capacity, etc.).
As a Digital Initiatives Librarian, Reed Hepler has helped people in all types of occupations access Open Educational Resources, Open Access periodicals, and other Open materials. While some see only the financial value in these innovations, others use them to foster academic freedom, enable frequent adaptation and updates, provide quality information directly to learners, and free information from the clutches of copyright, which can be unnecessarily constraining.
While OERs, unique among OA materials, have been associated with academia since the 1990s, they offer a host of benefits to patrons of all types of libraries, and staff can even use them to plan programming and support retention of program information. Library staff can even create OERs for their own purposes, whether for patron-requested topics, internal library policies, or another subject uniquely suited to the library's particular audience.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
* Understand the attributes of Open Educational Resources.
* Discuss the appeal of Open materials for all types of libraries.
* Find Open materials that could benefit your patrons.
* Develop a plan for making innovative Open materials for unique local needs.
* Understand the newest developments in OERs, including GenOER and Best Practices for OER Development.
This is a 60-minute webinar. All registrants will have access to the recording and presentation slides.
DATE: Tuesday, October 20th, 2026, 2:00 - 3:00 pm US Eastern Time