This is a guest post from John G. Dove, one of our DOAJ Ambassadors for North America.
Covid-19 is hitting all of our institutions, such as libraries and the organizations which support them, very hard. At the same time, it is shining the public’s eye on the importance of access to information in general and to Open Science, in particular.
Contributions to DOAJ are especially valuable at this time. By keeping the costs of helping to fund DOAJ modest and extending the reach as broadly as we can, we hope to secure DOAJ’s ability to serve the world-wide academic community, even as the volume of new open access journal applications is increasing.
We want to thank each of the following US libraries and library networks for their contributions in the recent months since the outbreak of COVID-19:
- Arizona State University
- University of Tennessee
- San Francisco State University
- Harvard University
- And 87% of the research libraries in Colorado and Wyoming who signed-up to contribute to DOAJ through the auspices of the Colorado Alliance for Research Libraries (CARL), namely:
- Colorado College
- Colorado Mesa University
- Colorado School of Mines
- Colorado State University / Fort Collins
- Colorado State University / Pueblo
- Regis University
- University of Northern Colorado
- University of Colorado / Boulder
- University of Colorado / Colorado Springs
- University of Colorado / Denver (Auraria)
- University of Colorado Health Sciences
- University of Denver
- University of Wyoming
- Western Colorado University
Jim O’Donnell at Arizona State University said:
“DOAJ is an important resource for our users, so it’s only fair that we provide support.”
Dustin Fife, Director of Library Services at Western Colorado University and Member Council Chair for the Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries, said:
“CARL is excited to be partnering with DOAJ to both support ongoing efforts around creating OPEN access to resources and build new opportunities for the future.”
Melissa Seelye, Scholarly Communication Coordinator, J. Paul Leonard Library, San Francisco State University, said:
“DOAJ is at the forefront of challenging misconceptions that persist about open access publications. For librarians who work to educate students about the value of open access and encourage scholars to rethink longstanding publishing norms, advocating that our libraries invest in the DOAJ is a critical means of building support for community-owned scholarly communication infrastructure.”
And Rachel Caldwell, Scholarly Communication & Publishing Librarian, University of Tennessee Libraries, put it most clearly:
“People in libraries are thinking more and more about how to redirect resources and increase funding to organizations that share our values, such as transparency, equitable access, interoperability, and diversity. The efforts are ongoing. Supporting and participating in DOAJ’s work is one way we’re doing this.”
We are particularly appreciative of these contributions at this time, as we know how pressing the financial constraints are now among higher ed. libraries.
Lars Bjørnshauge, Managing Director and Founder of DOAJ, said:
“It is especially heartening to see contributions not just from the big research-intensive institutions, but also the many smaller institutions devoted to teaching and learning. We welcome any library networks or consortia who want to work with DOAJ on arrangements where broad segments of the library world can support us with small donations. Reach out to me or leave a comment here if you have any ideas or suggestions, or would like to discuss supporting us.”
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