Day/time: May 7, 2025, 1:15 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. EDT
Title: “Reasonable costs” for publishing: what do we know now, and what can library publishers help us find out?
Presenter: Lauren B. Collister (they, she), Research Engagement Manager, Invest in Open Infrastructure
Description: In 2024, Invest in Open Infrastructure conducted a study focusing on “reasonable costs” for public access to the outputs of federally-funded research in the United States. This study was prompted by the guidance in the 2022 US Office of Science and Technology Policy Memorandum on Ensuring Free, Immediate and Equitable Access to Federally Funded Research, commonly referred to as the “Nelson Memo”, and the policies being implemented as a result. This work was supported by a 2023 grant from the US National Science Foundation (#2330827).
In this presentation, we share some of the significant findings from this study. One of the key distinctions we’ve made is that we need agreement on better language to describe two crucial aspects of providing public access to publications and research data: cost and price. “Cost” refers to the expenses incurred in the course of providing public access to research outputs, or the resources used to produce, deliver, and maintain a research output online. “Price,” on the other hand, is the charges paid by stakeholders in the market exchange for the service of providing public access to a research output. These two terms are often conflated in publishing literature (Steinhart & Skinner, 2024).
While information about the factors of cost and price for publishing research from publishers is becoming more common, the information shared is not cohesive and, therefore, difficult to generalize. In particular, specific cost information is not shared, and pricing schemes lack transparency. This knowledge gap provides an opportunity for library publishers. The work of libraries and other institutional publishers can significantly contribute to a more complete and balanced understanding of what constitutes a “reasonable” model for providing public access. We will share an overview of what we know so far and present ways that library publishers can influence this field to improve understanding. This presentation will also describe how this work is related to recent changes in US federal funding policy.
Title: The Harvard Open Journals Program: A New Library Initiative to Support No-Fee Open Access Journals
Presenters:
- Colleen Cressman (she/her), Librarian for Open Publishing, Harvard Library
- Yuan Li (she/her), University Scholarly Communication Officer and Director of Open Scholarship and Research Data Services, Harvard Library
Description: The Harvard Open Journals Program (HOJP) is a new Harvard Library-based initiative that aims to advance the equitable and sustainable publication of open access (OA) journals at no cost to readers seeking access and no cost to authors seeking to publish. Comprising two models, HOJP provides guidance, resources, and funding for developing and stabilizing no-fee OA journals. With the Academic Press Model, we work with Harvard faculty and researchers and not-for-profit academic presses to furnish operational costs for the short-term, while collaborating with partner organizations to establish community-supported funding mechanisms for the long-term. Still in the early stages of development, the Repository Overlay Model seeks to leverage open infrastructure throughout the publishing lifecycle to support repository-hosted, or ‘overlay,’ OA journals. In this presentation, we will discuss HOJP from conception and planning to development and launch. We will cover the motivating factors that led us to create the program and its constituent models; the importance of collaboration and fostering partnerships; lessons learned and present challenges; and our current and next steps as we continue to build and strengthen the program.
Title: On Building Transgeographic Teaching Networks: The Digital Library of the Caribbean Open Educational Resources in Caribbean Studies Development Program
Presenter: Tania Ríos Marrero (she/her), Project Coordinator for the Digital Library of the Caribbean, University of Florida
Description: The Digital Library of the Caribbean (dLOC, www.dloc.com) is a collaborative international digital library that preserves and provides open access to cultural, historical, scientific, and research materials from and about the Caribbean. Established in 2004, dLOC consists of over ninety partner institutions that contribute collections and share governance over the organization. More than a digital repository alone, dLOC serves both as a hub for teaching and research initiatives and as an international network of partners, scholars, educators, students, and broader publics.
The Revitalizing the Digital Library of the Caribbean initiative (2022-2026) is a project supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to build, strengthen and sustain the dLOC organization and community. This initiative prominently features a OER stipend program (https://dloc.domains.uflib.ufl.edu/teaching-resources/) to support the development of open educational resources (OER) in Caribbean studies.
This presentation will be facilitated by the team member responsible for designing and implementing the dLOC OER program at the University of Florida. It will include a broad overview of the grant initiative and a discussion of the OER program including summary, goals, timeline, resources, metrics for success, outreach, review and selection, and publishing. The session will discuss accomplishments as well as challenges and lessons learned as the program enters its third year of operation. In particular, it will emphasize community engagement and collaboration across geographic and linguistic boundaries as central to the program’s development and the production of OER in Caribbean studies.