Florida State University joins OLH LPS model

We are extremely pleased to announce that Florida State University has joined the Open Library of Humanities’ Library Partnership Subsidy system. FSU takes great pride in its ability to provide supportive environments for the exploration of all types of ideas; and with approximately $200 million in research expenditures each year, and more than 50 prominent research centers and institutes calling FSU campuses home, FSU continues to be one of the top idea-incubators in the United States.

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.

Professor Martin Paul Eve, a founder and academic project director of the OLH, welcomed Florida State University: “I am delighted that Florida State University has joined the LPS model. Open access in the humanities should not be expected to proceed in the same way as the sciences – but that’s not to say that it doesn’t bring benefits. With the help of institutions like Florida State University, we will ensure the broadest access to humanities research, without ever asking authors to pay.”

Julia Zimmerman, Dean of Libraries at FSU, added: “We are eager to support OA publishers with innovative, sustainable business models. OLH is an exemplar in this regard, empowering academic libraries to contribute to a sustainable model built on the principles of partnership, distributed costs, and shared benefits. We are happy to be part of the international consortium of libraries supporting OLH, and are intrigued by the opportunities that OLH will create for researchers in the humanities, who have long lacked affordable options for OA journal publishing.”

Libraries outside the US, UK, EU or Canada interested in joining the OLH Library Partnership Subsidy model should contact Professor Martin Paul Eve: martin.eve@openlibhums.org. UK-based libraries can join through Jisc Collections at http://www.jisc-collections.ac.uk/Catalogue/Overview/Index/2120. US-based libraries can join through LYRASIS at https://lyrasis.openlibhums.org. European libraries can sign up at http://lps.openlibhums.org.