Edge Hill University joins OLH LPS Model

We are very pleased to announce that Edge Hill University has joined the Open Library of Humanities' Library Partnership Subsidy system. Edge Hill University is a campus-based public university in Ormskirk, Lancashire, England. Founded in 1885, the university became the first non-denominational teacher training college for women in England, before admitting its first male students in 1959. Edge Hill University has historic links to the suffragette movement and hosts a suffragette symposium every year, with the university’s colours of gold, green and heliotrope (purple) reflecting this historic link. The university is still known for its high-quality teacher training courses. It also has a range of other departments including English, history and creative writing, geography, law and criminology, media, performing arts, biology, business (at the Edge Hill Business School), computer science, psychology, social sciences and sport and physical activity. Additionally, it has three Research Institutes for Creative Enterprise, Social Responsibility and Health Research. Edge Hill is ranked as Gold in the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF), the government’s evaluation of excellence in teaching quality, learning environment and student outcomes. The University is also one of the select few to have held the coveted UK University of the Year title, awarded by Times Higher Education (2014/15).

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 delighted to have the support of Edge Hill University. It’s always great to see that institutions are uniting together to support scholar-led open access initiatives. The Open Library of Humanities exists thanks to the support of our member institutions. With the help of Edge Hill University, we’ll continue building a non-APC open access landscape for the humanities”.

Liam Bullingham, Research Support Librarian at Edge Hill University added: “Several members of our academic staff have already published with the Open Library of Humanities, benefitting from making their work gold open access and delivering their research direct to readers without the obstacle of paywalls or author fees. We support the Open Library of Humanities mission and look forward to working together to improve scholarly communications”.