DARIAH endorses the statement from OPERAS in response to the ‘Open Research Library’, a new initiative from Knowledge Unlatched – DARIAH Open

"On 16 May 2019, Knowledge Unlatched announced the launch of a new hosting platform for Open Access books, the Open Research Library (ORL). Since the announcement multiple actor groups involved in the production of open monographs have voiced their concerns about the new platform as it goes against the fundamental principles and values that define open, transparent and community-led scholarly infrastructures.

At DARIAH, we believe that the sustainability, optimal coverage, and most importantly the openness of scholarly infrastructural components are key in shaping the future of scholarly communication for the better. Therefore, we would here like to express our endorsement for the statement by our sister infrastructure, OPERAS, in response to the Open Research Library. The full text of their statement can be found below....

In our opinion, the ORL does not meet the criteria for open infrastructures. On the contrary, based on the statement from KU and the early release of the ORL, the approach of this platform closely resembles well-known internet strategies to quickly achieve a dominant position by aggregating all available content and offering a free service to the community, while aiming for a lock-in of users and stakeholders. The ORL is neither open nor transparent, in particular regarding its governance.

While we are not against commercial ventures or market competition, we strongly believe that vital infrastructures supporting Open Science should not fall in the hands of commercial operators. These infrastructures should be a collective responsibility of stakeholders in scholarly communication. We see SCOSS and the recent launch of the IOI initiative as positive signs that this collective responsibility can become a reality. With this in mind, we think that the ORL is not helpful, and could well be harmful, on the road to establishing a distributed, open and sustainable infrastructure for Open Access monographs...."