Q. What are DRM-free resources and why should I assign them?

DRM-free (Digital Rights Management-free) are online resources with copyright restrictions. They have or can be purchased by the DePauw Library and are available for anyone to use within DePauw. Open Educational Resources are all DRM-free, learn more at our Open Education LibGuide.

The Library currently has DRM-free content provided by a variety of e-book platforms – in some cases only small collections or individual titles – and these platforms may have different, or limited, features. 

The following are some of the platforms and providers of DRM-free materials: 

• JSTOR 
• Taylor and Francis
• ProQuest Ebook Central
• Springer Link
• Cambridge Core
• Wiley Online Library

Why use DRM-free resources?

DRM-free materials:

• allow students to freely download, print, copy and save content
• come at no cost to the student
• are available for use at any time, from anywhere
• can be searched when reading online
• allow citations to be copied or exported to reference management tools such as Zotero or Mendeley.
• cannot be modified
• cannot be shared

DRM-free Licences

DRM-free books are either purchased or licensed by the Library. Most of the Library's resources can only be used in limited portions; however, DRM-free resources can be used far more liberally. For example, a standard e-book licence may only allow one chapter to be printed whereas an entire DRM free eBook can be printed. Similar to digital rental models where access is temporary because students rent, not own, the content; Library subscribed content is not guaranteed year over year. Publisher packages change and library budgets change. Students need to be able to access content after the course concludes, such as to prepare for licensure exams, while taking future courses, or entering their profession.

Adapted from Deakin University

How should I provide access to DRM-free content?

While the epub and PDF formats both allow you to view content offline, the epub format offers a couple of key advantages over PDF:

• Mobile Friendly: content in epub document is “reflowable.” That means that epub documents are able to adjust their presentation to the device that the student is using, and resize to fit the screen. This is especially important when students are consuming content on mobile devices.
• Accessible: the reflowable content in epub documents makes them better for visually impaired students. In addition, the technology underlying epub documents enables much better compatibility with screen readers than is the case for PDF documents.