Starting in 2025, UC Libraries are supporting several projects intended to broaden access to University of California research and scholarship by making UC-authored books open access.
Following on successful efforts to open UC-authored journal articles, these projects will enable UC authors publishing books with select university presses to choose open access at no cost to them, and will also begin opening previously published books by UC authors.
Books opened by the projects will be freely available worldwide, extending the reach and impact of UC scholarship, especially in the humanities. In addition to being made open access at the press website, the volumes will be collected in eScholarship. Developed with the additional intention to strengthen ties between libraries and university presses, these projects will experiment with new business models for broadening access to scholarly books, with a vision to expand opportunities for libraries to support the opening of books by authors affiliated with their institutions and thus extend the life and impact of academic monographs.
UC authors do not need to apply to these pilot programs. The Libraries and presses are working to identify eligible monographs and will contact authors if their monograph is identified as a candidate.
Read on below for more information about specific projects with:
Opening UC-Authored Monographs with UC Press and Duke University Press
These three two-year projects (FY24/25, FY25/26, FY26/27) each pilot an innovative funding model that combines support for UC authors publishing new monographs in an open access format with opening previously published monographs by UC authors.
The California Digital Library (CDL) administers the programs. An annual, upfront payment to the press ensures that UC authors from participating campuses who enter into a contract with the press that year can choose to make their monograph open access upon publication. To launch the programs, authors of select titles already under contract with Duke and UC Press will also have the opportunity to make their books open access.
If the publication of new, UC-authored monographs in a year does not exhaust the annual payment, the remaining funding will support the opening of UC-authored backlist titles. This model ensures predictable annual costs for UC and stable revenues for the press; UC is guaranteed to receive the full value of its annual investment, with the balance between opening new and opening previously published monographs varying depending on the number of new OA monographs by UC authors each year.
Opening UC-authored Backlist Monographs with Oxford University Press
This project focuses on the retrospective opening of UC-authored monographs published from 2003 to 2015. In this pilot, UC makes an upfront payment intended to open 100 eligible books by June 2026. The books to be opened represent a diverse selection of monographs across publication years and subject areas, with author affiliations from each of the ten UC campuses. UC Libraries have made a one-year commitment to this pilot; if it is successful and funding is available, it may be extended to open additional UC-authored OUP backlist titles.
Big Ten Open Books
UC Libraries are also providing financial support to Big Ten Open Books. This program of the Big Ten Academic Alliance retrospectively opens books published by Big Ten university presses to build subject-based open access collections of high-quality, academic content. After a successful collection of Gender and Sexuality Studies titles was launched in 2023, BTAA developed four new collections: Indigenous North Americans; African-, Asian-, and Hispanic American Experiences; Health Disparities and Disability Culture; and Human Environmental Impact. These collections will be supported by a sponsorship model to encourage libraries to contribute funding based on author affiliation. UC Libraries are participating in the sponsorship program to help ensure the 34 UC-authored books in these collections are made open access, starting in Fall 2025. In addition to making UC-authored books available to readers worldwide, UC Libraries’ support of Big Ten Open Books strengthens ties between libraries and university presses, including smaller presses.
To learn more about these programs, please contact Miranda Bennett, CDL Director of Shared Collections, miranda.bennett@ucop.edu.
Tags: eScholarship, Open Access, UC Libraries, UC Press
