State and University Library Bremen joins OLH LPS Model

We are extremely pleased to announce that the Staats- und Universitaetsbibliothek Bremen has joined the Open Library of Humanities' Library Partnership Subsidy system on behalf of the University of Bremen (German Universität Bremen) and the Universities of Applied Sciences in Bremen and Bremerhaven in Germany. These institutions represent 30,000 scholars and students from 115 countries and offer a broad spectrum of academic programmes while claiming particular subject strength in natural and engineering sciences, social sciences and the humanities. The university is regarded as a major centre for science. In 2005 it was designated ‘City of Science’ status and the University of Bremen, in 2012, was classified as a ‘University of Excellence’ – one of only 11 German institutions to be recognised as such.

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, said: “We’re very pleased to have the support of the University of Bremen. It’s great to see that in the context of Project DEAL, an increasing number of German institutions are uniting forces in support of alternative and more sustainable open access business models. With the help of institutions such as the Staats- und Universitaetsbibliothek Bremen, we will continue to run our economically-effective model for open access in the humanities, without ever asking authors to pay.

Benjamin Ahlborn, responsible for Acqusitions and Open Access APCs at  Staats- und Universitaetsbibliothek Bremen said: “It is great to see that humanities are becoming a part of the Open access. By joining the Open Library of Humanities we are contributing to an Open Access infrastructure which actual returns and benefits to our patrons will surpass our investments.”