Constellations of Open Access: Reflections on a Year at the Open Library of Humanities

A blog post by Emily Gresham Beamer, CHASE Doctoral Training Partnership Intern

When I set out to choose the organisation for my CHASE Doctoral Partnership placement year, the Open Library of Humanities (OLH) was at the top of my list, drawn as I was to the OLH’s open access publication model of collective library support. As my placement year comes to an end at OLH, I can attest that this is not only a radical vision to which open access academic publishing should aspire, but a practised and practical model for scholarly publication.

I learned the practicality of this radical vision first-hand, from brilliant mentors across the organisation, spanning the OLH editors, technologists, and communicators. The contributions of each were wholly unique, yet interconnected within a constellation of practices that bring the organisation’s mission into being. 

Under the guidance of Dr Steph Driver from the OLH tech team, I learned how to test software releases for accessibility, document bugs on GitHub, and review accessibility improvements - and to do so with confidence! Open access is not only about removing paywalls and challenging unfair publication models; it demands the removal of the practical barriers to this scholarly knowledge. 

In the final months of my placement, I led an audit of article XML and PDF metadata across current and past journal archives. While much of the work involved behind-the-scenes systems and granular details of digital preservation, it drew me to another star in the open access constellation: the protection of scholarly work for future readers.

Both projects demonstrated how crucial the interworkings of digital infrastructures are to safeguarding the production, publication, and continued accessibility of open access scholarship. 

In addition to my time testing accessibility improvements to Janeway with the tech team, and the digital preservation audits of OLH journal content, my day-to-day editorial work also involved supporting the Open Library of Humanities journal (OLHJ), under the mentorship of Managing Editor Dr Simon Everett and Editorial Director Dr Rose Harris-Birtill. This meant corresponding with authors, section editors, typesetters and peer reviewers, helping manuscripts move through the publication process. This was a year embedded in the collaboration of scholarly publishing; alongside the digital infrastructures (shout out to Siobhan Haime!) supporting this collaboration, I learned first-hand that every published article represents the efforts of researchers, reviewers, editors, and publishing staff, all working together to bring accessible and rigorous scholarship to the wider world. 

Last but certainly not least, I must highlight my time spreading the word of the OLH’s scholarly reach and equitable model of scholarly publishing with Community Outreach Manager Dr. Paula Clemente Vega. I’m left imbued with well-informed optimism for the future of open access scholarly publishing. Paula’s work engaging university library directors around the world continues to garner new supporters - a testament to the fact that as the OLH grows, it not only demonstrates but also inspires a fairer world of academic publishing. Thank you to the entire team at the Open Library of Humanities for the opportunity to contribute to that enduring mission.

Genuinely accessible scholarly publishing is no moonshot, and I am incredibly grateful to have learned this first-hand. 

The OLH team extends heartfelt thanks to Emily Gresham Beamer for all her excellent work and contributions over the past year. We wish her all the very best as she continues her PhD!