The concept behind "open educational resources" (OERs) has been around for several years. The principle of OERs is simply that teachers and lecturers make their learning materials freely available for others to use. At first, this might sound like a radical, even controversial, idea. Why, after all, should practitioners share materials that they spent hours preparing? Don't the resources belong to that individual's employer? And who would want to use other people's materials anyhow? Yet the concept of sharing materials has gained some ground over the last decade. The large quantity of resources on services like YouTube, Edu and iTunes U demonstrates that many are increasingly willing to share their work and reuse the work of others. OERs are being viewed and used by some teachers and learners but they are not being used extensively. This article discusses how teachers and lecturers can ensure a better uptake and enhance the quality of shared resources. (Contains 1 figure.)