Emory Libraries have long invested in our own and external organizations’ efforts to create a more equitable and open scholarly communications system. Library spending is no longer just about purchasing materials and providing access, but also for supporting these initiatives which benefit Emory researchers and students and the research community at large. This year our funding expanded to include new read-and-publish agreements and membership in the Open Education Network. Beginning in 2008 with an investment in the Hathi Trust, Emory Libraries has expanded its support for external open access and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives every year, and we are pleased to support over 20 projects to date.
Here is a snapshot of the external initiatives supported by Emory Libraries funding.
By helping to fund the missions of Knowledge Unlatched, Annual Reviews, Direct to Open, and University of Michigan Press Fund to Mission, Emory Libraries help to make publications open for everyone, not just subscribing libraries.
Emory Libraries help support organizations that make knowledge and culture available and discoverable through ORCID, SPARC, the Authors Alliance, the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), Open Access Publishing in European Networks (OAPEN), and the Open Education Network (OEN). In addition, the libraries support DEI practices through a partnership with the Coalition for Diversity and Inclusion in Scholarly Communications (C4DISC).
Through generous funding, Emory Libraries supports the digitization and preservation efforts of materials from historically underrepresented groups, and open access publishing of alternative press newspapers, magazines, and journals with the HathiTrust, punctum books, Reveal Digital, the South Asia Open Archives (SAOA), and the Global Press Archive.
The Libraries also provide support for Emory researchers who wish to publish open access through a collection of read–and–publish agreements with the American Chemical Society, Cambridge University Press, the Institute of Physics, and the Royal Society.
Emory Libraries is always looking for new opportunities to support open access and DEI initiatives, and we hope to add more external initiatives in the coming years.