Columbia University joins OLH LPS model

We are delighted to announce that Columbia University through its network of libraries has just joined the Open Library of Humanities' Library Partnership Subsidy system. Columbia University was founded in 1754 in New York City as King's College, by royal charter of King George II of England. It is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, and the fifth oldest in the United States. The university has 16 schools – which include architecture, planning and preservation; journalism; business; and law – and 14 libraries that are scattered across the city. 

Columbia University is one of the world's most important centers of research and at the same time a distinctive and distinguished learning environment for undergraduates and graduate students in many scholarly and professional fields. The University recognizes the importance of its location in New York City and seeks to link its research and teaching to the vast resources of a great metropolis. It seeks to attract a diverse and international faculty and student body, to support research and teaching on global issues, and to create academic relationships with many countries and regions. It expects all areas of the University to advance knowledge and learning at the highest level and to convey the products of its efforts to the world.

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 Columbia University: “We are delighted to have Columbia University as member of our LPS model. Our member libraries are contributing together to the devising of an alternative to the APC model, which is both unsustainable for the majority of humanities scholars and the budgets of most universities in the context of the serial crisis. With the help of Columbia University we will continue to support and extend open access to scholarship in the humanities with neither author-facing, nor reader-facing charges.”

Nicky Agate, from Columbia University, added: "Columbia University Libraries is thrilled that Open Library of Humanities will be one of the first partners in its new programmatic commitment to supporting more open and equitable access to both scholarly production and scholarly dissemination. In our assessment, the OLH initiative leads with its values, providing an essential pathway for humanities scholars from all over the world to engage without financial constraints in a rich scholarly conversation—and to open that conversation to others."