Fair use allows faculty members to use sections of copyrighted works for educational purposes.
For more information, see Section 107 of the Copyright Act.
The Fair Use Checklist document is a good starting point before approaching library and other support staff to determine what texts can be used openly. This checklist, developed by Columbia University’s Copyright Advisory Office, provides faculty with a short guide to determine whether or not a use of a certain text will fall within the realm of “fair use” so that it can be used freely in their course.
The materials linked in this post are openly licensed but not OER.