Open Educational Resources (OERs)

Image by fill from Pixabay

Open textbooks are made available under Creative Commons licences that enable creators to retain copyright in their work while allowing others to copy, adapt and distribute it freely, or with very few restrictions. 

There are six standard Creative Commons licences, listed below in order from least to most restrictive. 

License name	Abbreviation	Icon	Allows sharing	Requires attribution	Allows adaptation	Allows commercial use	Adaptions must use the same license
No Rights Reserved	CC CC0		Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No
Attribution	CC BY		Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Attribution-ShareAlike	CC BY-SA		Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Attribution-NonCommercial	CC BY-NC		Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike	CC BY-NC-SA		Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Attribution-NoDerivs	CC BY-ND		Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Not applicable
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs	CC BY-NC-ND		Yes	Yes	No	No	Not applicable

Table adapted from UWA Library and shared under CC BY-SA licence. 

Understanding Creative Commons Licences

The video below was created by Creative Commons New Zealand. For the Australian context please visit Creative Commons Australia.

Creative Commons License and how it helps us share digital content. by BrickPress. Youtube.

More information

Creative Commons Website - Creative Commons is an international non-profit organization that empowers people to grow and sustain the thriving commons of shared knowledge and culture we need to address the world's most pressing challenges and create a brighter future for all.

Creative Commons Australia - Information about Creative Commons specific to the Australian context.

Best Practices for Attribution - Creative Commons Wiki providing best-practice guidelines for attributing CC-licensed content.

Open Attribution Builder - This tool assists in building an attribution to openly licensed material.