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Open Educational Resources (OER): Licenses

Licenses

While there are several types of open licenses, Creative Commons (CC) licenses are widely used to give permission to reuse educational materials. Creative Commons licenses are typically used when creators want to give others the right to share, use, build upon or adapt their work. A CC license protects the creator's copyright while providing greater flexibility to those who wish to use the work.

There are six types of Creative Commons licenses which provide different levels of protection and reuse. All the licenses (public domain and the public domain dedication are not licenses) include the Attribution (BY) element, which means you must give a specific type of credit (learn more under Attribution). If you're simply copying content and using it in your courses at LBCC, you generally don't need to worry about the Sharealike (SA), Noncommercial (NC), and No Derivatives (ND) elements. If you're remixing content with different licenses and sharing publicly, it's a good idea to talk to a librarian about license compatibility.

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"Creative Commons: Free Photos For Bloggers" by Foter is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Choose a License

Creative Commons has a unique tool to help people wanting to license their own materials under Creative Commons. The Choose a License tool will help you decide which license is best for your wants and needs.

For more information...

Review the following resources:

Linn-Benton Community College Library
6500 Pacific Blvd SW
Albany, OR 97321
email: libref@linnbenton.edu / phone: 541-917-4645