Open Educational Resources: Textbooks and OER Search Engines

BC Campus
Searchable and browsable collection of open course materials including textbooks.

Google Advanced Search
Can indicate license terms in your search query.

LibreTexts Commons
Created at University of California Davis. LibreTexts is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization committed to freeing the textbook from the limitations and costs of traditional textbooks.

Mason OER Metafinder (MOM)
Metafinder created by George Mason University to search 21 repositories.

MERLOT
Curated, searchable collection of OERs, including textbooks. It is a program that began at California State University. CSU oversees this program along with other institutions of higher education.

Milne Open Textbooks
Previously named Open SUNY, Milne Library Publishing at SUNY Geneseo manages and maintains Milne Open Textbooks, a catalog of open textbooks authored and peer-reviewed by SUNY faculty and staff.

OER Commons
Searchable collection of OERs in a variety of subject areas, includes textbooks. It is a project created by ISKME (Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education). From their website "ISKME is an independent, education nonprofit whose mission is to improve the practice of continuous learning, collaboration, and change in the education sector." Established in 2002 and based in Silicon Valley.

OASIS
Openly Available Sources Integrated Search (OASIS) "is a search tool that aims to make the discovery of open content easier. OASIS currently searches open content from 115 different sources and contains 440,380 records." Developed by SUNY Geneseo Milne Library.

Open Textbook Library
“Open textbooks are textbooks that have been funded, published, and licensed to be freely used, adapted, and distributed. These books have been reviewed by faculty from a variety of colleges and universities to assess their quality. These books can be downloaded for no cost, or printed at low cost. All textbooks are either used at multiple higher education institutions; or affiliated with an institution, scholarly society, or professional organization.” Currently has over 1100 textbooks.

OpenStax
Open textbooks in a variety of subjects that can be accessed electronically for free. Texts also has an option to purchase a print copy. There are an increasing number of ancillary materials for each text.

Open SUNY (see Milne Open Textbooks above)

Pressbooks Directory
This directory provides a searchable index of complete texts published across Pressbooks networks.

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