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Library Research Guides

Textbook Affordability: Find OER

Start Here - Top Picks for Multiple Subject OER Repositories

There are many places to find OERs. These are called OER databases or repositories. If you have limited time, I recommend going to the OpenStax and OER Commons websites and clicking around. 

  • OpenStax - Based at Rice University. More than 20 peer-reviewed textbooks used at UC and CSU. Can adopt or modify. Low-cost print versions available. 
  • MERLOT - Free and open textbooks and related materials. 
  • OER Commons - Searchable database of textbooks. There is usually a lot of overlap between MERLOT and OER Commons. 
  • Skills Commons - Materials for workforce development from the Department of Labor. Produced by community colleges, managed by CSU and the MERLOT program for the Department of Labor.
    • This site is very confusing, but one of the better repositories for career education majors.
  • LibreTexts - Another large repository with a lot of information duplicated from the other repositories, but LibreTexts has an amazing remixer tool that allows users to make their own custom textbooks from existing OERs.
  • Lumen Learning - OER courses and course materials. 

Other Multiple Subjects Repositories

  • B.C. Open Textbook Project: Openly licensed textbooks in many subjects in higher education from the British Columbia Ministry of Advanced Education and the Hewlett Foundation.

  • CCCOER listserv of Shared OER : Find discipline specific resources from colleagues archived from the Community College Consortium for Open Educational Resources list serve. You can also get to it by:

    1. Go to www.cccoer.org 

    2. Click on Get Involved 

    3. Click on Community Email 

    4. Click on Index to Shared OER (scroll to bottom)

      • This is a good one to check for CTE!

      • I recommend joining the CCCOER Email Group for your discipline!

  • Openly Available Sources Integrated Search (OASIS): Being developed at SUNY Geneseo's Milne Library, OASIS is a search tool that aims to make the discovery of open content easier. OASIS currently searches open content from 80 different sources and contains 325,750 records.

  • Open Textbook Library: Center for Open Education at Univ. of Minn.  Free to download, adapt and distribute or print at low cost.  Reviewed by faculty and used in higher education.   

  • OER and Other Resources: General, humanities, social sciences, math, and sciences.  A broad range of resources with only some overlap with other databases on this page.  

  • MIT Open Courseware: Find instructional approaches and teaching materials from MIT, and freely select and adapt their explanations, examples, and simulations for your own classroom.

  • Saylor Academy. “Each of the 100+ books… is freely available for download, online reading, and sharing, under one of various open licenses. Check each book for specific terms.”

Canvas Commons

Commons is a learning object repository that enables educators to find, import, and share resources. A digital library full of educational content, Commons allows Canvas users to share learning resources with other users as well as import learning resources into a Canvas course.

Access Canvas Commons

select the commons icon in canvas

  1. Log into your Los Rios Canvas 
  2. In the left hand menu there will be an option for "Commons"
  3. Search for resources such as entire courses, modules, assignments, etc. to download into your course or a development shell. 
  4. OEI OER-Enabled Canvas Course Shells: 30 sample course shells are housed in Canvas Commons, and can be found using the following search terms: CCC, OEI, OpenStax, and OER. There is one blank so faculty can embed their own OER content. Each shell is WCAG 2.0 AA compliant and has a Creative Commons Attribution license with attribution to be given to the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office, funder of the OEI. 

Learn More

Learn more about Canvas Commons on the Canvas Commons Community website.