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What Opening the Future is NOT, and the importance of working with libraries in good faith

  • This is not a transformative agreements which links institutional support of a Press to their own authors being allowed to publish with that Press.
  • Having a positive, open and respectful relationship with librarians is fundamental. You should communicate with library supporters about the use of library funds on OtF titles, and consider soliciting their advice on your model where appropriate.

What Opening the Future is NOT

Opening the Future is not like a ‘transformative agreement’ in the journal world. There is no linkage between an institution supporting the model and their own authors being allowed to publish OA. Opening the Future, as a result, is trying to break the link between institutions paying and their own authors being allowed to publish openly, in favour of the press securing a 100% open frontlist and so achieving the former by default. Opening the Future is better thought of as an attempt to build a one-time, open, global ‘collection’ that is shared by libraries in common, around the world.

Working with libraries in good faith

It also needs to be said that one of the major factors underpinning the success of this model is good faith on the part of the participating publisher. While in some ways, this model plays the part of a conventional acquisition of content by a library from a publisher, it is primarily a mechanism to enable the OA publication of frontlist titles, and the library is as much an investor as a purchaser (if not more so). The funds accrued this way must therefore be used for their stated purpose. We strongly recommend that you publish quarterly news bulletins on your progress which also list the titles that have been published open access with OtF funds. 

We also strongly suggest that, if you do not already have one, you consider trying to set up a library advisory board. Copim has devised this as a community-minded model, as it has with all its projects (the ‘C’ in our name stands for community after all!). It is a collective model with community funding via libraries, funding a global collection. Therefore, it is extremely important to centre the library community who provide the funding for these initiatives - to make sure that community means more than just accepting their money. That it also means receiving guidance, feedback, and criticism from them, as equal stakeholders in this endeavour with publishers, and stakeholders with extremely relevant knowledge to share.

It is also pragmatic to do so. We have heard from many librarians that they are increasingly overwhelmed by collective OA funding requests from publishers, and so this is a vital means of communication to learn how to work with the libraries and make your own offering as clear, palatable, and easy to acquire as possible. Many libraries have begun to publish evaluation criteria in order to grade the offerings given to them, such as these ones:

Being able to ask librarians if they feel you fulfil these sorts of criteria, and that it is sufficiently clear in your marketing materials, is materially important to receiving library funds.  

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