Open Educational Resources and information literacy: Librarian roles and resources

Organized by the OSUN Library Resources Program and made available to AMICAL members.

Open Educational Resources (OER) not only promote student success by lowering textbook costs for students, they also have the potential to increase accessibility, diversity, relevance, and student engagement. Librarians’ information literacy skill set makes them uniquely qualified to provide leadership, education, and collaboration in OER projects. This presentation discusses ways librarians can participate in projects with students and course instructors as well as lead OER initiatives within the library and beyond. Librarians may apply information literacy skills during projects involving selecting, adapting, and authoring OER. They may also teach information literacy skills while educating others about OER and assisting with open pedagogy projects. The presentation will conclude with a list of resources and sources of support for those new to OER as well as those who are more experienced.

Presented by:

• Mary Ann Cullen, Georgia State University (retired). Mary Ann is co-editor of Intersections of Open Educational Resources and Information Literacy, an ACRL publication, and the Fall 2020 special edition of the academic journal, Library Trends, “OER and the Academic Library,” both with Elizabeth Dill. Mary Ann recently retired from Georgia State University where she was Associate Professor and Associate Department Head at the Alpharetta Campus. She has been involved in the open and affordable educational resources movement since 2013, when she participated in the adaptation of an OER text for an introductory English composition course. She has assisted faculty with OER adoption and grants, and presented about librarians’ roles in OER at ACRL, the Distance Library Services Conference, and a Carterette Series webinar. She has been recognized as an Affordable Learning Georgia Featured Advocate.
• Amanda Larson, The Ohio State University. Amanda works as the Affordable Learning Instructional Consultant at The Ohio State University. Her role involves organizing professional development programs for staff, librarians, and instructors on open pedagogy and open educational practices. Additionally, she was the Open Pedagogy Fellow for the Open Education Network. In this capacity, she developed a curriculum for facilitating a learning circle focused on Open Pedagogy and conducted a pilot learning circle program for instructors, instructional designers, and librarians.