2026-07-11 –, Open Social Space
This session will introduce the Digital Public Goods Library. This library of digital public goods contains public domain and openly licensed educational materials that have either lost their digital home, or are at risk of disappearing. This project is a timely response to the current moment in which the work of protecting and preserving digital public goods in education has become increasingly important, as keeping these resources in circulation for educators and learners is essential for democracy.
The session will present the origin story of the Digital Public Goods Library, the urgent need that prompted its creation, and how the idea has evolved to also include the desire to reinforce and support connecting the use of rich datasets to the creation of openly licensed educational resources.
For over 20 years, ISKME has been a steward in reducing barriers to the search and discovery of high-quality education material through the creation of OER Commons, a digital library of openly licensed resources that are accessible for all. Educators, learners, librarians and researchers have long relied on these materials to help make education more accessible, affordable, and personalized to their students’ contexts. Unfortunately, many of these collections are now at risk due to shifting institutional priorities, funding constraints and policy changes. We are witnessing entire repositories taken offline or at imminent risk of removal from circulation. The result is the loss of valuable publicly funded knowledge, impeding access to education.
The Digital Public Goods Library is a proactive response to this pattern emerging in many parts of the world and reflects a commitment to serve as stewards of public domain and openly licensed educational content to ensure that resource collections are preserved, regenerated, and available to all educators who wish to adopt and adapt them. We are responding to the urgent need to keep in circulation public domain and openly licensed educational materials that have lost, or risk losing, a stable and accessible digital home.
A core component of this work builds on existing librarianship and archival efforts of many. We are working collaboratively with dedicated librarians and archivists across organizations such as the Internet Archive to ensure that these materials are not only archived, but re-hosted in a way that is easily accessible to educators and learners who wish to use them.
While the role of archivists is an essential ingredient, the Digital Public Goods Library ensures that resources remain usable, relevant and adaptable to current educational contexts. The focus is on meeting the moment and enabling education stakeholders to continue leveraging high-quality, openly licensed content in their work, which is an ongoing effort that we at ISKME are committed to continuing and strengthening.
ISKME is a global nonprofit that inspires and convenes educators to embrace the practice of Open Education
Lisa Petrides is CEO and founder of the Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education (ISKME), a nonprofit dedicated to make learning and knowledge-sharing participatory and open for all. She is a scholar and international open education expert who has led the development of research, policy and practice, to create and support the field of open education practice. Her work includes the creation of ISKME's OER Commons, a digital public library of open educational resources and collaboration platform that facilitates the search, discovery, and adaptation of high-quality digital resources that are free, openly licensed, and available for a diverse range of learners. She also serves as a member of UNESCO’s OER Dynamic Coalition Advisory Group, supporting the implementation of the UNESCO Recommendation on OER.
A former professor at Columbia University, Teachers College, she has advised and led efforts that enable schools, colleges, universities, ministries of education, and the organizations that support them to expand their capacity to create knowledge-driven environments focused on teaching and learning. She received a Ph.D. in Education Policy from Stanford University. She was also reelected to a second term on the San Mateo County Community College District Board of Trustees in November 2024, the governance body of the three-campus community college system in California serving more than 30,000 students.