26 Feb. 2021 – Webinar: How Can Libraries Help Keep Open Science Infrastructure Free and Independent? | LIBER Europe

Date: 26th of February 2021 Time: 14:00 – 15:30 Register for this webinar.

Ensuring a sustainable future for Open Science (OS) and Open Access scholarly publishing is imperative to support today’s and tomorrow’s crises. This webinar will highlight the need for funding OS infrastructure in the context of COVID-19.

While OS infrastructure has been generously funded for years, without more funding, essential services that many of us depend upon are at risk of service degradation, reduced availability and of survival in some cases. Furthermore, much of the infrastructure run by not-for-profits is currently free to libraries. However, how long this free service will last unknown since some commercial publishers are diversifying portfolios. An uncomfortable truth is that budgets are now even more strained, and operational and development costs remain in the absence of mid- or long-term funding solutions. OS not-for-profit infrastructure is appealing to academic library directors due to limited financial support. It is crucial that library directors take a leading role in continuing to provide financial support for OS infrastructure, even in such challenging times.

Libraries across the world have raised over 2.9 million euros over several years for OS infrastructure, supporting DOAJ, Sherpa Romeo, DOAB, OAPEN, PKP and OpenCitations. However, some of these infrastructures are still far from reaching their targets. A few thousand euros can go a long way. This webinar brings together voices from the library community who have committed to funding OS infrastructure from all regions of Europe. They will offer their own perspectives on why funding remains so important to them and their organisations.