In this presentation we aim at showcasing the initial findings which prepare the development of an OER Repositories Monitor, an OER World Map project aiming to provide overview of existing OER collections, similar to what the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) does for Open Access (OA). DOAJ started collecting Open Access Journals back in 2003 and currently lists more than 15.000 entries.

Our initial findings indicate, that OER often appear in scattered collections, with inhomogeneous structures, diverging collection sizes and different technical platforms, which significantly complicates their identification, classification and documentation. The mapping of collections therefore requires a focused, step-by-step approach that leads to partial results, which in themselves create additional value for interested user groups. During our initial pilot, we experimented with different approaches:

Focus on subject and or format: We concentrated on audiovisual collections, which often originate in either private companies offering a tailored copyright management service or in career musicians offering their own musical pieces and samples under an open licence.

Focus on regions and states: At national level, we have studied the case of Spain. The REBIUN (Spanish University Libraries Network) has a Directory of institutional repositories which currently, has a total 76 repositories. Recently it has been determined that 45 of these (that is, 58.4% of the total) have teaching communities (Santos-Hermosa, Gema et al; 2020).

Focus on educational/cultural sector: In Europe, most open museum collections have agreements with Europeana and are digitised versions of the physical collections. Most of the museums don’t provide guidance for educators willing to use such content. However, collections associated to Europeana can be connected with Europeana Classroom, which is an educational programme that enables the use of Europeana’s open digitised collections as OER.

Focus on used technology: Finally, we have reviewed how the HE sector promotes the adoption and use of OER, mostly in the US and Canada, where lots of university libraries are making enormous efforts in not only listing but carefully curating a wide range of OER through a platform called libguides which is a proprietary software for content curation.

The aim of the initiative is to gain a deeper understanding of by whom, where and how OER collections are developed and operated. A systematic listing of existing OER collections also represents a preparatory step to facilitate the aggregation of OER, e.g. in search engines such as OERSI. Finally, the OER Repository Monitor could provide the missing link between existing collections and communities of practice, which use and expand their holdings. This presentation aims to contribute to recalling the focus on resources and collection, which has often taken a back seat to didactic issues in recent years, and is aimed in particular at librarians and infrastructure operators.