There are many resources for OER Textbooks and the list is always growing. Check the tabs on the top navigation bar to locate subject specific OER under Discover, Textbooks, Books/E-Journals, and Media, as well as By Subject.
In the OER world, citations are known as attributions. They help to maintain the history of an item including who originally developed it and when, and also exactly how the resource can be shared or customized based on the provisions of the Creative Commons (CC) license. Attributions are an essential part of creating and using OER resources.
When creating attributions, a good rule of thumb is to use the acronym TASL, which stands for Title, Author, Source, License.
If a title was provided for the material, include it. Sometimes a title is not provided; in that case, don't worry about it.
Name the author or authors of the material in question. Sometimes, the licensor may want you to give credit to some other entity, like a company or pseudonym. In rare cases, the licensor may not want to be attributed at all. In all of these cases, just do what they request.
Provide the source of the material, this is usually a URL or hyperlink where the material resides.
You are using the material for free thanks to the CC license, so make note of it. But it is not enough to say that the material is published under CC license. There are six different CC licenses specifying how the material may be used. Name and provide a link to it, eg. CC BY.
The CC license allows for educational use as long as content is properly cited. Check out Best Practices for Attribution Creative Commons Wiki on how to create your own attribution statement for items using Creative Commons licenses.
For details tips on creating attributions for OpenStax Textbooks and Images please go to Citing Textbooks and Images.
Open Attribution Builder A user-friendly form created by Open Washington to help you build consistent and concise attributions for citing open material you find and use, or to attribute yourself when you create something and want to share. This builder is also embedded in Canvas! It includes both CC licenses and public domain designations.
To create a bibliographic reference for an OpenStax textbook, follow this pattern:
Author(s). (Year). Title. Publisher. URL or DOI
Here's a sample Reference Citation for the OpenStax Biology 2e textbook:
References
Clark, M. A., Douglas, M., & Choi, J. (2018, March 28). Biology. OpenStax. https://openstax.org/details/books/biology-2e.
Here, the authors' last name, first & (if included) middle initials are included. The copyright date (year) and the URL can be found on the copyright statement page of the PDF of the e-textbook.
If you redistribute this textbook, part of this textbook, or images from this textbook in a print format, these authors request you include on every physical page using content from this source the following attribution:
If you have a link to the e-textbook in your class, and it opens in your browser (and not in a PDF), then the copyright date may be different. To find the correct copyright date for the web-based version of the textbook, go to the Table of Contents area, select "Preface" and then look for the "Attribution" section (it may be all the way at the bottom of the page). The copyright date should be located there.
All Creative Commons (CC) attributions should have the same basic information:
In the shortest caption allowed by the above, you would put:
caption: Title [hyperlinked to source] (c)Creator, License information [hyperlinked]
example: Unless otherwise indicated, Biology by Openstax fro Openstax is licensed CC BY.
For works in the public domain, the authors should be cited. Additionally, if a public domain work has been curated or made available by a person other than the author, that provider should also be appropriately credited.
Berger, E., Israel, G., Miller, C., Parkinson, B., Reeves, A., & Williams, N. (2016). World history: Cultures, states, and societies to 1500. History Open Textbooks, 2. https://www.oercommons.org/courses/world-history-cultures-states-and-societies-to-1500/view. CC BY-SA 4.0.
Roe, K. (2012, April 22). Leads castle [Photograph]. Flickr. https://flic.kr/p/c35GPj. CC BY 2.0.
Khan Academy. (2017, January 16). History and prehistory: The origin of humans and human societies [Video file]. https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/world-history/world-history-beginnings/origin-humans-early-societies/v/history-and-prehistory. CC BY-NC-SA.
Lincoln, A. et al. Human Rights. E-book, MIOpenBook, 2017. OER Commons, http://www.oercommons.org/courses/world-history/view. Accessed 29 January 2019. CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
Roe, Karen. Leads Castle. 2012 Online image. Flickr, uploaded 29 January 2019, https://flic.kr/p/c35GPj. Accessed 11 May, 2019. CC BY 2.0.
Khan Academy. “History and Prehistory: The Origin of Humans and Human Societies.” YouTube, uploaded by Khan Academy 16 January 2017, https://youtu.be/ObGarwy5Jss. Accessed 11 May 2019. CC BY-NC-SA.
Below are some common questions about citations and copyrighted works. OER program managers should be familiar with instructors' common questions and concerns about using copyrighted and openly licensed materials. OER support team members are not legal experts, however, and generally work with open licenses, which make usage much easier than traditional copyright. When in doubt, leave it out; the OER support team member should not use the material in question.
If there is no author mentioned, how do I cite the resource?
Use the author of the website. If the website does not have a mentioned author, use the name of the website (e.g., “CK-12”).
What if there is no open license or notice of public domain mentioned?
Remember, just because no copyright symbol is present does not mean that the work is open (e.g., not every page of a Harry Potter book has a copyright symbol on it, but it is still copyrighted). Since everything is automatically copyrighted, you should generally assume that all work is copyrighted and should not treat it as an open resource without further investigation.
May I use a copyrighted work if I properly cite the author?
No, unless you have written permission to use it.
If something is marked as released under Creative Commons, but there is no specific license identified, which should I use?
You should probably either use the most restrictive license (CC BY-NC-ND) or the most common license (CC BY). Use your best judgment.
Can I modify or revise an openly licensed work?
This depends on the license. In most cases, yes, but you may need to release your new work under the same license. The primary times when you cannot do this would be when the license prohibits derivative works (e.g., any CC BY-ND and CC BY-NC-ND).
Can I use Royalty Free work?
This is tricky. Royalty Free does not generally mean free as in libre (i.e. free to use for whatever). Rather, it typically means that you can use a work in a very specific way (e.g., print an image up to ten times) that will vary based upon the provider. So, royalty free is essentially just another way of saying copyrighted, but the material might be able to be used in some very limited manner without paying a fee.
If something is copyrighted, does that mean I cannot ever use it?
You can use it if you have the copyright holder’s permission. You can always contact the owner and ask her/him if you can use it. Open resources are handy, simply because they make it easier for you to use materials without asking permission every time you want to use something.
Content was adopted from the OER by Subject Research Guide by Skyline Library and is licensed CC BY 4.0 unless otherwise indicated.