Direct to Open Post-Launch: The Institutional Perspective

Sponsored by MIT Press

Recorded on 04/13/2022
Posted in The Authority File

Episode 248

Since MIT Press’s Direct to Open (D2O) launched, 180 institutions (and counting!) have signed onto the library collective action model. Though based on a tiered structure—larger institutions pay a higher price and so on—the model has found more support and buy-in from larger libraries and consortia. What holds smaller institutions back from joining the project? Are there other major open access investment opportunities currently in the market? Overall, what is the institutional perspective when considering open models?

In this second episode, Emily Farrell, Library Partnerships and Sales Lead at MIT Press, and Curtis Brundy, Associate University Librarian at Iowa State University, reveal the institutional perspective gleaned from the past year of D2O. They discuss the hurdles smaller institutions face when choosing to participate in open publishing, as well as the solutions that consortial relationships offer in return. Last, Emily and Curtis dig into the growing connection between scholarly communication and collections, and the possibilities libraries and publishers create through collaboration and mission alignment.


About the guests:

Curtis Brundy
Associate University Librarian for Scholarly Communications and Collections
Iowa State University

Emily Farrell
Library Partnerships and Sales Lead
MIT Press

Emily Farrell is Library Partnerships & Sales Lead at the MIT Press where she works with libraries on ensuring access to digital content. Before the MIT Press, she worked in both sales and as an acquisitions editor for linguistics, developing a program in applied linguistics and sociolinguistics, at De Gruyter. She holds a PhD in sociolinguistics from Macquarie University, Sydney. Emily serves on the board of the non-profit legal services organization UnLocal, as well as the Foundation for the Yonkers Public Library.


Enjoy the episode? Listen to the rest of the series:


Listen to our previous series on Direct to Open with MIT Press:
– MIT Press’s Direct to Open
– Finding a Place for Open Access Monographs


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