Supporting Diamond Open Access: Research libraries as funders, intermediaries and publishers

In the ongoing transformation of the scholarly publishing system to Open Access, more and more actors argue that it is important to maintain bibliodiversity in the publishing system. One way to achieve this is by investing not only in transformative agreements with big commercial publishers but also in non-commercial publication models governed by scholarly communities.

In this panel, we present four different approaches from research libraries that aim to support Diamond Open Access publication initiatives from the scholarly community. Diamond Open Access means that the publication costs are neither financed by library subscriptions nor by article Processing Charges (APCs), but via alternative business models. The four presentations in the panel highlight different roles that research libraries can adopt in supporting Diamond Open Access: libraries as intermediaries, libraries as funders, libraries as providers of publishing infrastructure.

The first presentation outlines libraries in the role of intermediaries between publishers and authors by establishing Open Access consortia. Libraries have a long-standing expertise in consortial negotiations, yet possibilities for a broad adaptation to APC-free Open Access resources have not been fully explored. In the project KOALA (2021-2023), Technische Informationsbibliothek (TIB) and Communication, Information, Media Centre (KIM) of the University of Konstanz develop a sustainable and scalable business model that offers consortial solutions for financing Diamond Open Access resources.

The second presentation focuses on the Fund for Fair OA managed by KU Leuven Libraries since 2018. This fund is devoted to providing financial support for non-profit, community-driven approaches to Open Access and Open Scholarship infrastructures. It is thus an important asset in KU Leuven’s contribution to collective funding programs which are a typical feature of Diamond Open Access business models. Particular attention will be given to the selection criteria and other practical aspects of managing the fund on a day-to-day basis.

The third presentation presents a project in which a research library acts as a funder of Diamond Open Access in the disciplines business and economics. With the Open Library Economics (OLEcon), the ZBW –Leibniz Information Centre for Economics offers funding for scholar-led journals that strive to establish a sustainable Diamond Open Access business model. The presentation is going to highlight learnings from the initial funding period (2021-2023).

The fourth presentation presents a service where a research library acts as a provider of publishing services. With TIB Open Publishing, the Technische Informationsbibliothek (TIB) offers publishing services to conference organisers and journal editors. The service adheres to high editorial standards and participates in the further development of the free software Open Journal Systems (OJS).

In the panel, we will discuss the chances and challenges libraries face when starting initiatives to support Diamond Open Access. We will look at the different initiatives’ specific contexts as well as learnings that can be helpful to initiatives in other countries. We furthermore want to discuss with the audience how support for Diamond Open Access can be implemented in local library strategies.

The presenters:

Presentation 1 (KOALA): Sarah Dellmann, Katharina Schulz, Lena Dreher, Martina Benz

Katharina Schulz is the project coordinator for KOALA –Konsortiale Open-Access-Lösungen aufbauen at Technische Informationsbibliothek (TIB). She has been active as an open access and OER enthusiast for several years and has worked as an e-learning author both in university and corporate settings.

Martina Benz is working in the Team Open Science at the Communication, Information, Media Centre (KIM) of the University of Konstanz. Besides her involvement in the KOALA project, she evaluates the implementation of open-access-policies in Germany in the project OPEN4DE.

Presentation 2 (KU Leuven Fair OA Fund): Dr. Demmy Verbeke.

Demmy Verbeke is a member of the management team of KU Leuven Libraries and Head of Artes, the unit responsible for collections and services for the Arts and Humanities. He combines this position in the library with an appointment as associate professor of open scholarship at theFaculty of Arts.

Presentation 3 (OLEcon project): Dr. Juliane Finger.

Juliane Finger is working in a project with the aim to support the Open Access transformation in the disciplines business and economics at ZBW -Leibniz information centre economics in Hamburg, Germany. Before joining the ZBW-team, she workedin several projects on the topics Open Access and cultural change through digitisation.

Presentation 4 (TIB Open Publishing): Dr. Xenia van Edig.

Xenia van Edig is publication platform manager of TIB Open Publishing at Technische Informationsbibliothek (TIB). Xenia has been working in Open Access Publishing for more than 10 years. Before joining TIB she worked at Copernicus Publications and was a member of the board of directors of the Open Access Scholarly Publishing Association (OASPA) for five years.