OER works are still under copyright.  The difference is that they have a Creative Commons license applied to them, which waves most rights under copyright.   Look for the sign that looks like this: . 

The Creative Commons license lets you know what you can and can't do with the work.  There are six CC licenses.  The most liberal license, CC-BY, lets you do anything you want as long as you give credit to the original author.   For a quick overview of the six licenses and what they mean, visit:

For a more in-depth look at the licenses, join librarians Jamey Harris (Mansfield) and Katie Yelinek (Bloomsburg) for a discussion of Creative Commons licenses, which permit you to use content in the classroom beyond what you normally can do under fair use.  Learn what Creative Commons licenses are, how to use them, and how to find CC-licensed content.  The recording below is from a workshop on March 2, 2021.  Recording runs ~50 mins.  Closed captioned.