Jisc subscriptions manager is now live for Opening the Future and CEU Press

Posted by Tom Grady on May 12, 2021 at 1514

This means that UK libraries can now easily sign up to, and pay for, the packages of books on offer from the Central European University (CEU) Press through the standard Jisc catalogue interface. 

CEU Press and COPIM are tremendously grateful to colleagues at Jisc who have now finalised the licence for libraries in the UK to subscribe to Opening the Future with CEU Press. The programme has a growing membership base in the USA, Canada and mainland Europe and has already funded its first OA book, but today’s announcement means that it’s now really quick and easy for UK libraries to join too.

The membership subscription can be managed and invoiced through the usual Jisc interface: their catalogue page has more details at https://subscriptionsmanager.jisc.ac.uk/catalogue/2618

The membership yields access to the backlist, but crucially, the revenue from the membership is used to fund the frontlist to be published OA. Library membership fees will pay only for OA books that do not already have funding (meaning that one book will not be funded several times over, which would be a form of double-dipping). This is a Subscribe to Open (S2O) model for books.

One key point about this licence is that we hope that other presses who may wish to work with Jisc will, now, have had the heavy lifting done for them. The repurposability of this agreement will allow other presses who seek an open future to establish their own membership models.

In case you don’t know what Opening the Future is all about

Library members pay a small annual fee to get DRM-free, unlimited access to a selection of the well-regarded CEU Press backlist, and with perpetual access after three years. The membership revenue is then used to produce CEU Press’s new monographs which are openly licensed and openly (freely) accessible to anyone in the world. Given the current global library environment and existing budget pressures that have been exacerbated by the pandemic, a consortial model of funding like this promises a cost-effective solution for enhancing online/electronic library collections with relevant research.

Key points to note:

Pricing is tiered according to size of institution by number of FTEs:

  • £1000 high tier p.a.

  • £700 middle tier p.a.

  • £300 lowest tier p.a.

  • Even at the highest tier, the annual cost to a library is equivalent to half the price of a single average APC for a single journal article. Under the OTF scheme, however, libraries get 50 titles in perpetuity - thus offering extremely good value.

  1. CEU Press are offering a 5% discount if subscription comes in between May and July 2021 (this discount applies to year one, or three years if payment for the three years is made in advance).

  2. The backlist titles in the subscription packages were selected because they had the greatest number of downloads in the spring of 2020 when all titles went open for a period of three and a half months. They are current and relevant titles for library collections.

  3. CEU Press is aiming to make 25 books per annum open access:  books are made OA as funds are raised. They expect in the first year to make a minimum of 10 books OA, reaching a target of 25 p.a. by year three. If they exceed the target they will make a community investment in improved infrastructure for OA books with COPIM.

  4. This agreement is available to all HE, Academic Affiliates, MLAG, Research Councils and Research Organisations. Membership is open to libraries anywhere in the world, not just the UK.

Opening the Future is a collective subscription model that, through its membership scheme, makes library funds go further: achieving the dual objectives of increasing collections and supporting Open Access.


Image credit: Alejandro Scaff on Unsplash