University of Konstanz joins OLH LPS model

We are extremely pleased to announce that the University of Konstanz has joined the Open Library of Humanities’ Library Partnership Subsidy system. From the very beginning of the Excellence Initiative in 2006, the University of Konstanz has been successful in all three funding lines of the Excellence Initiative. The goal of the Excellence Initiative is to promote top-level research and to strengthen the research location in a sustainable way. Librarians at the University of Konstanz are keen to act as a hub to encourage other German institutions to join the OLH model.

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 the University of Konstanz: “I am absolutely delighted to welcome the University of Konstanz to the OLH LPS model. We clearly all benefit from paywall-free access to research material. With the help of institutions like the University of Konstanz we will expand our model for open access into German-speaking regions of the world.”

Petra Hätscher (Director of IT and Library Services at the University of Konstanz) states: “We see the OLH as a innovative, high quality and sustainable way to open access and especially appreciate the multilanguage approach which we think is very important  in the humanities. We are looking forward to promoting the OLH model in Germany!”

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.