Open Education

Open access (OA) is the practice of providing free, unrestricted access to content via the Internet, most commonly to scholarly journal articles. OA removes price barriers between users and content and is compatible with peer review, copyright, preservation, and quality associated with conventional scholarly literature. You can read an overview of open access by Peter Suber here.

Open Access Explained Open Access Music Creative Commons Contact Us Resources

U of I Open Access Resources

The University of Idaho Library has created an institutional repository of scholarly works produced by the various University of Idaho units and affiliates. The library collects, preserves, and makes accessible these scholarly works for the benefit of University patrons and for the academic world at large.

Here are some document collections contained in our institutional repository:

Open Access Explained!

Finding Free-to-Use Music

If you are creating a video project, podcast, or video presentation, using the right music can sometimes be what ties your project together. However, it is important to use music that is free to use and without copyright restrictions, as using copyrighted materials without permission is illegal. Thankfully, James McCoy has created a guide to finding free music for videos. This guide explains the different kinds of licenses on music and where to find them.

What is Creative Commons?

Creative Commons licenses are a "simple, standardized way to give the public permission to share and use your creative work - on the conditions of your choice." Creative Commons licenses give flexibility and protection to both the artists and writers of creative works and the users and consumers of those works. If you are looking for content that you can freely and legally use there are hundreds of millions of works available - from songs and videos to scientific and academic material - available for free and legal use to the public. Learn more about the Creative Commons here.

Contact Us

If you have questions about Open Access, please feel free to contact the librarian who specializes in your subject area. See a list of all subject librarians here: Library Liaisons.