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Open Educational Resources (OER)

Using DRM-Free Resources for Internal Use Only

What are DRM-free resources?

Digital Rights Management (DRM) regulates how online resources can be accessed, downloaded, copied and printed by end-users. Resources with DRM restrictions limit how much of a resource can be copied and downloaded, e.g. one chapter per day. Some resources with DRM restrictions also limit the number of simultaneous borrowers, allowing only a limited number of people access at any one time.

DRM-free resources are online resources purchased by the Library with copyright restrictions that offer far greater accessibility and flexibility for individual use. DRM-free resources can be copied and downloaded in their entirety and accessed by an unlimited number of users at the same time.

Why use DRM-free resources?

DRM-free resources:

  • allow an unlimited number of users to simultaneously download, copy and print the entirety of a resource.
  • Are available to be accessed from any location, at any time and at no cost to the end-user.
  • Search for DRM-free resources when reading online.
  • Allow citations to be copied or exported to reference management tools such as EndNote.
  • Cannot be modified and shared publicly (can only be shared with subscribed end-users, e.g., Western Sydney University staff and students).
Begin your search with these recommended DRM-free platforms
View more…
  • Brill
    Search from over 19,000 ebooks from a wide variety of disciplines
  • Emerald
    Emerald has over 2,500 innovative eBook titles across a wide range of disciplines
  • Oxford Medicine Online
    Search over 1,000 of Oxford University Press’ renowned medical ebooks

Check out our eBooks Guide for more information on each of these platforms and help using ebooks.

Further information

Looking for open access resources?

See the Open Access libguide.

How open is it? Licences explained

  Public domain - Free from any copyright restrictions. It can be modified and reused by anyone for free without permission, including for commercial purposes.
  Openly licensed - Free to access and free to share. Licence terms vary; check to see whether adaptation or commercial use are restricted.
  DRM free resources - Library purchased ebooks and journals for flexible use within the university. An unlimited number of simultaneous viewers. Downloading and printing is not restricted. However, it cannot be adapted and cannot be shared outside of Western Sydney University.
  Unlimited user license - Library purchased ebooks with no limits on the number of simultaneous viewers. Download and print limits apply. It cannot be adapted and cannot be shared outside of Western Sydney University. 
  Multi-user license - Library purchased ebooks with no limits on simultaneous viewers but a yearly quota of total accesses. Download and print limits apply. It cannot be adapted and cannot be shared outside of Western Sydney University.
  Limited license - Library purchased ebooks with a limited number of simultaneous viewers (often 1-3). Download and print limits apply. It cannot be adapted and cannot be shared outside of Western Sydney University.
@Western Sydney University unless otherwise attributed. This page is a derivative of the DRM-free resources the University of South Australia for Western Sydney University OER Toolkit by Western Sydney University Library staff is licensed under CC BY 4.0.

© Western Sydney University, unless otherwise attributed.
Library guide created by Western Sydney University Library staff is licenced under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY)