Making Open Access Book Funding Work Fairly: Opening the Future Library Membership Scheme

Presentation delivered at Opening the Future and the Open Book Collective. Diamond Open Access for Books? (29.11.2023, 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. (CET)).

Abstract

Due to high prices charged by commercial academic publishers and limited funding opportunities, it is still more difficult for scholars to publish Open Access books than journal articles. But how could open access books be produced at fair prices or even BPC-free? The Copim community has been investigating this question since 2020. Two models have developed in this context:

Opening the Future enables the financing of Open Access books through a membership model: in return for an annual membership fee, academic publishers make a selection of their backlist (non-OA books) available to academic libraries. The income from these membership fees enables the realisation of new OA books. 

The Open Book Collective is a non-profit organisation that emerged from the COPIM project and connects libraries, publishers, scholars and OA professionals with the aim of facilitating access to diverse and fair OA publications. The OBC is based on a governance structure including all stakeholders (publishers, libraries, scholars), preventing a commecrial sell-out. For publication service providers and publishers, the OBC allows them to finance their operations through a membership model. Libraries and researchers can use the OBC online platform to research and find OA publications, order or download them, and manage orders and subscriptions.