Leiden / Boston / Paderborn / Singapore / Beijing – 7 February 2020

UKB, the Dutch consortium of university libraries, and the international scholarly publisher Brill have reached a Transformative Agreement for the years 2020 and 2021.

The agreement provides reading access to Dutch researchers at 9 institutions and allows for unlimited Open Access publishing in all Brill journals. Brill’s journal portfolio consists of more than 330 hybrid and fully Open Access titles in the Humanities, Social Sciences, International Law, and Biology. Articles which have already been published in 2020 will be made Open Access retroactively.

“Low barriers to publish Open Access are of special importance for Humanities disciplines which are well represented in the Brill package. Dutch universities participating in this agreement are therefore very enthusiastic about it. Also because it fits in our Roadmap Open Access and the National Plan Open Science,” says the UKB licensing group.

“We are very excited to have reached our first read and publish deal with universities in the Netherlands. It will increase the visibility and impact of research in fields which are vital for addressing today’s global challenges. The deal motivates us to continue our efforts to find sustainable Open Access publishing solutions with our library and funding partners around the world,” says Jasmin Lange, Chief Publishing Officer at Brill.

Brill is one of the leading independent publishers in the Humanities and Social Sciences with a broad OA portfolio consisting of more than 400 OA books and several thousand OA journal articles.

For more information about the agreement visit the Information for Authors from the Netherlands page (https://brill.com/page/oainfoauthorsnl) or contact Stephanie Paalvast, Program Manager Open Access at Brill, via paalvast@brill.com.

About Brill
Founded in 1683 in Leiden, the Netherlands, Brill is a leading international academic publisher in Middle East and Islamic Studies, Asian Studies, Classical Studies, History, Biblical and Religious Studies, Languages & Linguistics, Literature & Cultural Studies, Philosophy, Biology, Education, Social Sciences and International Law. With offices in Leiden (NL), Boston (US), Paderborn (GER), Singapore (SG) and Beijing (CN), Brill today publishes over 330 journals and close to 1,400 new books and reference works each year, available in print and online. Brill also markets a large number of primary source research collections and databases. The company’s key customers are academic and research institutions, libraries, and scholars. Brill is a publicly traded company and is listed on Euronext Amsterdam NV. For further information, please visit Brill.com.

View this media alert online: https://brill.com/newsitem/179/dutch-universities-and-brill-reach-transf...

Duluth, Ga., February 6, 2020: Upon the completion of the first application cycle of the Equinox Open Source Grant, Equinox Open Library Initiative is honored to announce the first two grantees: Biblioteca Nacional de Puerto Rico, a division of the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña in San Juan, Puerto Rico and Spark Central in Spokane, Washington.

The Equinox Open Source Grant program provides hosting and support of Koha, the first open source Integrated Library System to be used worldwide. The grant was inspired by the vibrant open source community and the belief that every community deserves to benefit from an accessible and thriving library.

“We are excited to give back to the library and open source communities of which we are honored to be a part,” said Mike Rylander, executive director and founder of Equinox. “It has long been our vision to enable sustainability in libraries through the independence and constancy an open source solution can provide. We are thrilled to collaborate with the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña and Spark Central.”

The Biblioteca Nacional de Puerto Rico was created in 1967, a division of the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña. In 2003 it became the National Library to preserve and provide access to resources about and related to Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans. Spark Central was founded when Spark Center and INK Art Center joined forces and became one organization in 2016. Their mission is to break down barriers to creativity like cost, confidence, and access.

Over the next three years of the grant cycle the program will provide Koha hosting, training, and access to basic Equinox support. Applicants will be eligible for renewal at the end of the grant cycle. Applications for the 2020 grant cycle will open in the Fall of 2020. Follow Equinox Open Library Initiative on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn for the latest updates.

About Equinox Open Library Initiative
Equinox Open Library Initiative Inc. is a 501(c)3 company engaging in literary, charitable, and educational endeavors serving cultural and knowledge institutions. As the successor to Equinox Software, Inc., the Initiative carries forward a decade of service and experience with Evergreen and other open source library software. At Equinox OLI we help you empower your library with open source technologies. To learn more, please visit https://www.equinoxinitiative.org/.

About Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña
The General Library of Puerto Rico was created in 1967 and was assigned to the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña (ICP), the States Arts Agency of Puerto Rico by Dr. Ricardo Alegría. In 2003 it became the National Library with the aim to preserve and provide access to the rich, unique and significant bibliographic productions about and related to Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans. The National Library’s mission is centered in the acquisition, preservation and dissemination of publications developed in the country or abroad, by Puerto Ricans or foreign authors on Puerto Rican subjects. To learn more visit https://www.icp.pr.gov/.

About Spark Central
Spark Central is a 501(c)3 nonprofit that ignites the creativity, innovation, and imagination necessary for people to forge the path to their best future. We break down barriers to creativity like cost, confidence, and access by offering transformative programs, access to innovative technology, and a welcoming creative community for people of all economic backgrounds. Everyone deserves the opportunity to forge the future they imagine. As a 501(c)3 charitable organization, we rely on the generosity of people like you to keep our membership and programs available at no cost so income is never a barrier to opportunity. Find out more at spark-central.org.

About Koha
Created in 1999 by Katipo Communications for the Horowhenua Library Trust in New Zealand, Koha is the first open source Integrated Library System to be used worldwide. The software is a full-featured ILS with a dual-database design (search engine and RDBMS) built to be compliant with library standards. Koha’s OPAC, staff, and self-checkout interfaces are all web applications. Distributed under the General Public License (GPL), libraries are free to use and install Koha themselves or to purchase support and development services. For more information on Koha, please visit https://koha-community.org.

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