The Open Book Collective Welcomes the Bodleian Libraries at the University of Oxford.

The Open Book Collective is delighted to welcome the Bodleian Libraries at the University of Oxford as a supporting library member!

The University of Oxford is a prestigious collegiate research university in Oxford, England. It is the second oldest university in continuous operation in the world. A member of the Russell Group, Europaeum, and Universities UK, the University of Oxford is made up of thirty-nine semi-autonomous colleges, four permanent private halls, and a range of academic departments. You can read more about the University’s commitment to Open Access (OA) at their dedicated webpages here. Thanks to support from our library members like the Bodleian Libraries, the OBC is able to support a fairer and more bibliodiverse landscape for Open Access publishers.

By becoming a member of the Open Book Collective, libraries have the opportunity to evaluate, compare, and support a bespoke range of small-to-medium Open Access book publishers, as well as groups that are building important technical infrastructure for the creation and curation of OA books. They are so able to combine initiatives in any way they see fit, or support the OBC as a whole. This enables our library members to demonstrate that their investments in OA books have broad impact in multiple sectors of the landscape of scholarly communications. The OBC, and the librarians who support it, are committed to a more equitable landscape for OA books. Our members are committed to collaborative, horizontal modes of working together on opening access to scholarly books for readers globally, without monetary, technical, or other barriers. Through library support, we enable our publisher members to move away from Book Processing Charges.

We believe that libraries and librarians have a critical role to play in the future of OA books. The OBC was built with librarian advisors from all over the world, working with researchers, publishers, and infrastructure builders for over 3 years. As a result, and because of the OBC’s emphasis on non-competitive mutual aid, publishers (such as Open Book Publishers, Mattering Press, meson press, punctum books, mediastudies.press, African Minds, White Horse Press and more coming shortly), open publishing services providers (such as OAPEN Library, Directory of Open Access Books, and Thoth), and libraries oversee the management and the governance of the OBC together, which makes for a truly community-led, accountable organization.

Librarians serve as trustees on the Board of Stewards, along with researchers active in open scholarly communications, alongside publishers and infrastructure builders, who all collectively participate in decision making relative to the OBC’s management, membership policies, and long-term strategic planning. This unique structure demonstrates that OBC will be responsive and accountable to funders and to the broader community working to establish a more global open knowledge commons. In addition, the OBC is distinctive for its cost sharing — libraries, publishers, and publishing services providers contribute equally to the costs of the daily operations of the OBC — and also for the fact that the members receiving income from supporters will give back to the OBC a portion of the revenue they receive to a collective development fund. This fund will be used to help smaller initiatives have a more solid footing in terms of their technical and other capabilities, through the development of toolkits, webinars, and other education materials, and also through mini-grants available to existing and potential members.

We are extremely grateful to the Bodleian Libraries at the University of Oxford for joining us in our commitment to a better future for the sustainability of Open Access futures. To learn more about how your library can support the OBC, please visit our website, or email us at [email protected].

Header image: "File:Divinity School Interior 2, Bodleian Library, Oxford, UK - Diliff.jpg" by Diliff is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.