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Biology Resources

A guide to Kaufman Library and Web resources for biology research

What are OER?

"Open Educational Resources (OERs) are any type of educational materials that are in the public domain or introduced with an open license. The nature of these open materials means that anyone can legally and freely copy, use, adapt and re-share them. OERs range from textbooks to curricula, syllabi, lecture notes, assignments, tests, projects, audio, video and animation." - UNESCO

As the definition above illustrates, OER are not limited to only open textbooks; however, textbook affordability is a central issue for many OER initiatives.

If you'd like to learn more about OER and textbook affordability, visit the Open Educational Resources and Affordable Textbooks guide.

Finding OER

The Milne Library at SUNY Geneseo developed OASIS, a tool that searches across multiple OER sites.
 

Search: Mason OER Metafinder (MOM)

George Mason University Libraries also created a tool that searches across OER sites, the Mason OER Metafinder (MOM).

 

Try searching with OASIS or MOM before making a deeper dive into the OER sites in the next section. Your library liaison is also here to help.

OER Sites

Numerous sites and repositories exist that make OER available online or make finding OER easier. Below is a selection of available sites.