It’s great news that The Open University has joined the Open Library of Humanities membership scheme.

The Open Library of Humanities is an Open Access publisher that does not charge Article Processing Charges (APCs), rather is funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and a library consortium.  The portfolio includes The Comics Grid, Journal of British and Irish Innovative Poetry and ASIANetwork Exchange: A Journal for Asian Studies in the Liberal Arts.  It also includes Glossa, which was established when the editorial staff of Elsevier journal Lingua resigned over Elsevier’s Open Access pricing model.

Martin Eve, one of the founders of OLH, gives a warm welcome to the OU:

“The Open University has been a pioneering in ensuring that those who wish to access higher education may do so, regardless of their background. As such, we feel a particular affinity with the mission of the Open University and are delighted that the institution has joined our membership scheme”

For me these innovative community driven approaches to Open Access are crucial interventions in academic publishing and I’m thrilled the Open University Library has found the funds to support the initiative.