Dickinson College joins OLH LPS network

We're extremely pleased to announce that Dickinson College has become a member of the Open Library of Humanities' Library Partnership Subsidy system. Chartered in 1783 (the first college chartered in the newly recognized United States), Dickinson is a highly selective, private liberal-arts college. Founded in Carlisle, Pa., by Benjamin Rush and named for John Dickinson, its mission is to offer students a useful education in the arts and sciences that will prepare them for lives as engaged citizens and leaders.

The Open Library of Humanities is an academic-led, gold open-access publisher with no author-facing charges. With initial funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the costs of our ongoing publishing are paid for, in advance, by a global library consortium so that authors do not have to pay. This model means that there are no fees for authors and no incentives for us to accept sub-par work.

Dr. Martin Paul Eve, a founder and academic project director of the OLH, welcomed Dickinson: “I am extremely pleased that Dickinson has joined the LPS model that underpins the Open Library of Humanities. The benefits of OA for the humanities disciplines are obvious but the ways in which we can overcome the economic challenges are often not quite so clear. By building an alternative platform that journals can join to achieve open access with no author-facing charges, we will show that this is possible. With the help of institutions like Dickinson, this will become a reality.”

Theresa Arndt, Associate Director for Library Resources & Administration, added: “The Waidner-Spahr Library is delighted to support a well thought out approach to open-access publishing for the humanities. The Open Library of Humanities addresses libraries' financial sustainability concerns and promotes broad access to the scholarly literature now and in the future.”

Libraries outside the US and UK interested in joining the OLH Library Partnership Subsidy model should contact Dr. Martin Paul Eve: martin.eve@openlibhums.org. UK-based libraries will shortly be able to join through Jisc Collections. US-based libraries can join through LYRASIS at https://lyrasis.openlibhums.org.