Furman University joins OLH LPS model

Posted by Paula Clemente Vega on 28 January 2019

We are extremely pleased to announce that Furman University has joined the Open Library of Humanities' Library Partnership Subsidy system.  Founded in 1826, Furman is the oldest private university in South Carolina.  Furman provides students with a distinctive education in fine arts, humanities, social sciences, mathematics and the sciences, as well as select professional disciplines.  It enrolls approximately 2,700 undergraduate students and 200 graduate students, representing 46 states and 53 foreign countries, on to its campus. Its alumni include a Nobel Prize laureate, U.S. Senators, and a head of government.  U.S. News & World Report ranks Furman the No. 1 National Liberal Arts College in South Carolina and one of the top five National Liberal Arts Colleges in the Southeast.

Furman University Libraries support numerous open access initiatives and their Open Access Fund helps offset the cost of Article Processing Charges (APCs) for Furman authors. According to Christy Allen, Assistant Director for Discovery Services at the Furman Libraries, “Supporting the Open Library of Humanities is a perfect fit for Furman as we increasingly seek ways to facilitate open access publishing for our faculty and students.”

The Open Library of Humanities is an academic-led, gold open-access publisher with no author-facing charges. With funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the platform covers its costs by payments from an international library consortium, rather than any kind of author fee.

Paula Clemente Vega, Marketing Officer for the Open Library of Humanities, welcomed Furman University: “We are delighted to have the support of Furman University. APCs are one of the major barriers in open access publishing for the majority of unfunded humanities scholars. It is thanks to the support of our members that we can continue to provide an alternative to this that does not rely on author-facing charges.”