Open Access Investment Fund for Purdue University Libraries and School of Information Studies
Concerned with the unsustainable growing cost of journal subscriptions through academic publishers and recognizing an opportunity to affect change, members of the Libraries Dean’s Advisory Council generously contributed the funding necessary to start the Open Access Investment Fund in 2020. The primary purpose of this fund is to support the Libraries’ open access commitment for an affordable, open, sustainable and transparent system of scholarly research. While open access works are free to read, they are not free to publish. Often, the costs of publishing are moved to authors in the form of article processing charges, which can present an impassable barrier to publication or result in diverting valuable research funds to publication fees. The Open Access Investment Fund will help absorb the cost of publication allowing scientific discoveries to be shared openly, broadly, and in a timely manner and enable the Libraries to explore and participate in innovative new open efforts.
Members of the Dean’s Advisory Council act as a leadership body for the advancement of Purdue University Libraries and School of Information Studies within the university and with outside constituents. From across the country, members are selected based on their ability and interest to provide leadership, to contribute financially, and to become actively involved in the work of the council. Joanne Troutner (BA 1974, MS 1976), an educator, lifelong leader, and innovator, joined the Dean’s Advisory Council in 2020 and spearheaded the effort to establish the Open Access Investment Fund. As a longtime educator, Joanne understands how critical open access opportunities are to Purdue authors and researchers, students, and scholars in West Lafayette and around the world, and to the future of university libraries.