Introduction

Using a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) or other contract or formal agreement between you, the publisher, and the author is very important. Not only will it clarify expectations, but it may surface questions about who owns the copyright and what faculty union/bargaining agreements may allow at your institution.

In this video, Meredith Jacob, Assistant Director, Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property, and Public Lead, Creative Commons USA, Washington College of Law, talks about the benefits of using a contract. These include clarifying roles, expectations and timelines among everyone involved. She recommends a contract regardless of whether money is changing hands.

Office Hours: MOUs, Contracts and Agreements by Rebus Community on YouTube (CC BY)

Adaptable OER Publishing Agreement

The Adaptable OER Publishing Agreement (CC BY) was designed to be a starting point for higher education institutions that want to contract with their faculty to create OER. It was developed in a way that makes it easy for institutions to edit the agreement to meet their own campus intellectual property policy requirements. Creative Commons USA, the Rebus Community, and the Open Education Network worked together to create this document.

You will want to work with your general counsel on intellectual property questions related to the contract. With that in mind, you may want to prepare an introduction to Creative Commons, as they may not be familiar with open licensing and open education.

Student Contributors

Working with student authors and contributors requires thoughtful and deliberate planning. Faculty and students don't typically share equal power in the classroom, so requiring students to openly license content they create isn't recommended, since a student may find it difficult to say no. For additional considerations around student contributors and open pedagogy refer to A Guide to Making Open Textbooks with Students.

In addition, there are both copyright and FERPA considerations when students are involved in creating OER projects. Consider adapting a template with your Office of General Counsel (OGC) before beginning a project with students. Here are examples:

Again, institutions should always review these templates with administrators or their OGC before using them.

Additional Resources

Contracts, including for a variety of roles, Self-Publishing Guide, BCcampus
Memorandum of Understanding UTA CARES Grant Program, University of Texas Arlington
Oklahoma State University Library MOU for OER projects
Open Textbook Agreement from Portland State University Library