Open slather? Supporting open educational practices and resources

Abstract or Summary

The creation of open educational practices and resources is a world-wide movement gathering momentum. The purpose is to enhance education and life-long learning, the underpinning ethos is that knowledge is a public good and access should be enhanced through the various means at hand. The library sector has long supported such a view, how do we face the challenge of ensuring that barriers to accessing educational resources are minimised? The trend towards openness includes such established movements as Open Source Software, Open Standards and Open Access; more recently within these environments scholars are sharing their digital resources openly and freely over the Internet as Open Educational Resources. This development has important implications for educational institutions in promoting a sustainable model which addresses cultural and mindset change and organisational barriers.