Open Access (OA) book publishing, and the way it is funded, is changing. 2020 and 2021 saw the emergence of several new OA monograph initiatives based on collective library funding. Cambridge UP started Flip It Open, MIT Press launched Direct 2 Open and Liverpool UP and the Central European University Press launched Opening the Future. This session will give attendees a better understanding of the associated challenges facing libraries, publishers and scholars and will position these in the context of recent policy developments (UKRI OA monograph policy, the next REF, Plan S) and the rapidly developing OA landscape. Run by the non-profit, international COPIM Project, presentations and informal breakouts will give participants an understanding of a number of emerging OA book funding models and infrastructures that support smaller presses, based not on Book Processing Charges (BPCs) but on collective library funding. We’ll talk about how libraries might evaluate which OA book programmes align best with their institution and deliver the most relevant benefits. And we’ll discuss the importance of collaborative approaches for publishers and libraries, with a particular focus on the COPIM Project’s different types of collaboration, including Open Book Collective and Opening the Future: two OA monograph partnerships between libraries, publishers, and infrastructure providers.

Attendees will explore how to make more informed decisions about the long-term management of their investment in consortial library funding programs.