Guides: Open Educational Resources (OER): Library Educational Resources (LER)

LER vs. OER

Library Educational Resources (LER) are materials the library purchases or licenses that can be used as course content. While they are not considered OER because they are purchased or licensed and cannot be revised, they are still accessible to students and do lower course costs.

In most cases, database articles and eBooks can be assigned as course readings.

When incorporating library resources into your course, follow these best practices:

Provide links in Brightspace rather than uploading PDFs. This respects copyright and allows the library to maintain accurate usage statistics.
Use permanent links with the proxy prefix for off-campus access.
Consult with a librarian before assigning an eBook, as some titles may limit the number of simultaneous users and may have licensing restrictions.

Explore the library resources below to incorporate into your course curriculum.

Library Databases

Academic Search Complete
A multidisciplinary database and a leading resource for scholarly research. Includes full-text access to peer-reviewed journals in key areas of academic study, as well as indexing and abstracts for magazines, monographs, reports, and conference proceedings.
JSTOR
A collection of journals, e-books, and primary sources, covering content in the humanities, sciences, and social sciences. New content for journals will not appear for 1-5 years after the publishing date.

A-Z Databases by Subject
Browse and search in other databases by subject.

Ebooks

Ebook Central
Multidisciplinary collection of scholarly ebooks. Can be viewed online and limited printing and downloading is available with the creation of a free account. Full downloading for offline reading is also available with an Adobe account and Adobe Digital Editions software (freely available from Adobe).
eBook Collection
A multidisciplinary collection of ebooks available to read in-browser on the EBSCO platform or in PDF and EPUB formats.
OverDrive
Popular titles in e-book and audio book format. Download titles for Kindle and other e-readers. Use the Libby app to easily download content to your phone or other devices.
OverDrive provides downloadable e-books and audiobooks including books for the Kindle.

Videos

Films On Demand
Multidisciplinary streaming video platform. Films can be shared with an email link or embedded into Blackboard. Featured producers include the BBC, PBS, and TedTalks.
Kanopy Streaming Video
Kanopy is an on-demand streaming video platform for public and academic libraries that offers films, TV shows and documentaries.
Swank Digital Campus
Swank Digital Campus offers a collection of over 30,000+ feature films, documentaries, TV shows, and foreign films for faculty to incorporate in their courses. Faculty must request titles in advance through their subject librarian to ensure the license is available for the semester that the course is being taught.
Academic Video Online
A comprehensive, multidisciplinary video database that includes a variety of video material available with curricular relevance: documentaries, interviews, feature films, performances, news programs and newsreels, and demonstrations. Patrons will find thousands of award-winning films, including Academy®, Emmy®, and Peabody® winners.

This page is based on Open Educational Resources (OER) by Miami Dade College Libraries, licensed under CC BY 4.0