Knowledge Unlatched (KU) is pleased to announce that it is expanding and scaling up. There will be several announcements over the next few months about KU’s greatly expanded new collections.

As KU scales up it will experiment with more choices – more curated thematic and topical packages, new subjects and more diverse content. KU is looking now at opening up access to journals as well as to backlist books. It will offer more purchasing models (including more consortia models). KU will continue to focus on its prime goal – sustainable and affordable Open Access for scholarly publications.

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Knowledge Unlatched began with a model that largely mirrors the library market, enabling libraries to vote with their budgets. It has won awards for its innovative approach from IFLA/Brill and Curtin University and will continue to build on this experience through deeper engagement with researchers and faculty. KU will build on the initial cooperation between libraries and publishers, including establishing a library/publisher forum and holding elections from amongst the participating libraries for the library content selection panel.

KU is committed to enabling evidence-based assessments of the benefits of Open Access to be conducted and made publicly available. To this end, KU’s new arm, KU Research is developing its own projects and collaborating with other research projects around the world to bring transparency and analysis to usage data. KU Research is under the direction of Lucy Montgomery, Director of the Centre for Culture and Technology, Curtin University, Australia.

As part of this expansion a new branch of KU is being established in Germany with Sven Fund (previously CEO of De Gruyter) as Managing Director, enabling KU to greatly improve its technology base and global reach.

Ralf Schimmer (Head of Scientific Information Provision at the Max Planck Digital Library and Chair of the Governing Council of SCOAP3) will be joining the German board, as will KU’s Founder, Frances Pinter and Lucy Montgomery. Sven Fund joins the London-based KU Board, as does Charles Watkinson, Associate University Librarian for Publishing and Director of the University of Michigan Press.

Frances Pinter said: “I am delighted with this new development that allows for fresh investment and for an expanded programme. Working collaboratively with other OA initiatives, working with a broader range of content, and demonstrating the benefits to a wider group of institutions and research funders will bring greater strength to the OA proposition.”

Sven Fund said: “With its innovative approach, KU has helped to define Open Access for monographs, and I am thrilled to become a part of this quest. I am confident that KU will further expand its presence worldwide.

About:

Knowledge Unlatched C.I.C. is a Community Interest Company registered in England and founded by Frances Pinter. It was formed in 2012 to further the interests of opening up scholarly knowledge.

Knowledge Unlatched GmbH is a registered company in Germany and has been established to further grow the KU operations by Sven Fund.

Contact information:

Dr Frances Pinter: frances@knowledgeunlatched.org
Dr Sven Fund: sven@knowledgeunlatched.org