It's nice, but is it sustainable? Rethinking sustainability for Diamond open access infrastructures & funding models

This presentation was delivered at UKSG 2025, 31 March - 2 April 2025. 

Abstract:
Those involved in running community-led infrastructures and funding models that support Diamond open access will be familiar with questions being repeatedly raised about the sustainability of their work. In this breakout session, we will hear short talks from five initiatives that are engaging directly with this question, in relation to both open access books and journals, even as they sometimes push back against its often unspoken
assumptions. Each contributor will unpack what “achieving sustainability” means for them, including reporting on their concrete progress in support of this work, in their own terms, as well as potentially highlighting the limits of understanding sustainability as merely financial. Panellists will also reflect on developments in the
broader scholarly system that potentially both are a challenge for their work and present opportunities. This will be followed by questions from the audience.

• Scaling Sustainability: Open Book Collective and Community-led Open Access - Joe Deville
• From the Back of the Sofa to the Budget Line: Sustainability at Opening the Future - Kira Hopkins
• Why we need a Big Deal for Diamond Open Access Journals - Caroline Edwards
• Sustaining open metadata as a public good: benefits and challenges - Rupert Gatti
• Sustainable Principles: POSI in Practice - Niels Stern 

Speakers:
Joe Deville | Open Book Collective / Lancaster University
Tom Grady | Opening the Future / Birkbeck, University of London
Caroline Edwards | Open Library of Humanities / Birkbeck, University of London
Rupert Gatti | Thoth Open Metadata / Open Book Publishers / Trinity College, Cambridge University
Niels Stern | Directory of Open Access Books & OAPEN