A Qualitative Study on the Digital Preservation of OER

Abstract

Libraries continue to spearhead initiatives to incentivize instructors to adopt, adapt, and create open educational resources (OER). However, these programs often do not explicitly require instructors to preserve the OER they create. Drawing on an analysis of semi-structured interviews with six experts, this article presents considerations for libraries interested in preserving OER and recommendations for OER librarians that are new to digital preservation. The study makes an argument for why and how libraries could begin to preserve OER. Future areas of investigation include better understanding how OER repositories preserve OER and consortia models to support this work.