Member News & Announcements, September IO 2025
Partnerships & Collaborations
OCLC expands global partnerships with CORE sponsorship agreement
OCLC, Voting Member, Press Release, August 25, 2025
OCLC has announced a sponsorship agreement with CORE (COnnecting REpositories), expanding OCLC's commitment to supporting open access research infrastructure worldwide. This partnership builds on OCLC's recent agreements with organizations including the International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF), the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), and the European Bureau of Library, Information and Documentation Associations (EBLIDA).
CORE is a not-for-profit service that provides access to millions of open access research papers in their comprehensive database. The service supports libraries, researchers, and institutions in discovering and accessing scholarly content.
Amigos Library Services Joins the Samvera Community
Amigos Library Services, Voting Member, Press Release, August 14, 2025
Amigos Library Services has joined the Samvera Community, a vibrant open-source coalition of information and technology professionals building world-class digital repository tools. This marks a significant milestone for Amigos, signaling our deepening commitment to providing innovative, community-driven solutions for libraries. Through this partnership, Amigos offers Hyku, a feature-rich multi-tenant, open-source repository platform, to its members. Hyku provides a scalable, user-friendly way for institutions to create and maintain institutional repositories without significant technical overhead. Amigos will provide hosting, support, and customization services, giving members a powerful new option for managing their digital assets.
Samvera is an open-source framework trusted by libraries, archives, and cultural institutions worldwide. It powers flexible and sustainable digital repository systems. Today, the community includes over 30 partner institutions that collaboratively develop and support tools like Hyrax and Hyku, ensuring long-term viability and shared innovation.
PALNI Joins EAST to Support Shared Print Preservation
Private Academic Library Network of Indiana (PALNI), Voting Member, Press Release, August 14, 2025
The Private Academic Library Network of Indiana (PALNI) is pleased to announce its membership in the Eastern Academic Scholars’ Trust (EAST), a national shared print program dedicated to preserving and ensuring long-term access to scholarly print materials. By working with EAST, PALNI strengthens its commitment to deep collaboration and external partnerships while advancing the responsible stewardship of academic resources for students, faculty, and researchers across its supported institutions and beyond.
“I am so pleased to welcome PALNI and its 24 supported libraries to EAST. With PALNI’s membership, EAST enters its 16th state and my own home state of Indiana,” says Tina Baich, EAST Director. “EAST now has nearly 200 members, working collaboratively to safeguard the print scholarly record and make it available to current and future researchers, students, and teachers.”
CCC and TCC-Africa Team Up to Improve Identification of African Institutions Driving Innovation in Scholarly Research
Copyright Clearance Center, Voting Member, Blog Post, July 30, 2025
We have announced an agreement with the Training Centre in Communication (TCC – Africa) to support the identification of organization affiliations to help improve the tracking of research output from African institutions. This strategic collaboration aims to improve the matching of organizations with research outputs for institutions affiliated with the Africa PID Alliance.
TCC Africa’s Open Infrastructure program includes the Africa PID Alliance, whose mission is to secure the future of African innovation, indigenous knowledge, and cultural heritage. It supports scientists and inventors in disseminating and commercializing their research innovations.
Open Access, Open Research
Springer Nature’s 2024 Open Access (OA) report Highlights Growing Value for Authors
Springer Nature, Voting Member, Press Release, July 31, 2025
Springer Nature has released its fourth annual Open Access (OA) report providing a transparent, data-led (1), overview of progress made in OA publishing and access. Marking ten years since signing its first, pioneering transformative agreement (TAs), the report highlights how the company’s responsible approach continues to increase visibility and impact for its authors, while calling for greater industry collaboration to support a more inclusive and sustainable OA transition.
Harsh Jegadeesan, Chief Publishing Officer at Springer Nature said:
“We are proud of the open access milestones we've reached and the role we play in helping to build a more open research ecosystem. But as the report shows, this global transformation is complex and requires responsible commitment from all stakeholders.
Our focus remains on ensuring that no researcher, institution, or country is left behind, while maintaining the reliability and trustworthiness of research so that scientists and innovators everywhere can build on knowledge to tackle the world’s most pressing challenges.”
Grants & Awards
Illinois Newspaper Project Receives NEH Grant
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library, LSA Member, University Library Website,, August 20, 2025
The Illinois Newspaper Project (INP) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Library has received a grant of $324,189 from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), to digitize 100,000 pages of historical Illinois newspapers, as part of the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP), a partnership between the NEH and the Library of Congress. The Illinois Newspaper Project has been an NDNP partner since 2009, and has contributed over 600,000 pages of digitized newspaper content to Chronicling America, the digital newspaper collection of the Library of Congress. All Illinois newspapers digitized by the INP are also freely available on the Illinois Digital Newspaper Collections (IDNC) website, which includes additional newspapers digitized thanks to other grants and generous patron donations.
The 2025-2027 grant will focus on Illinois newspapers that document the history of relations between Native American communities and settlers, from the early 19th century to the mid-20th century. The INP will partner with other Illinois cultural heritage repositories including the Newberry Library. Celestina Savonius-Wroth (head of the History, Philosophy, and Newspaper Library) and William Schlaack (Digital Reformatting Coordinator for Preservation Services) will lead the project. In addition to the project leads, the Illinois Newspaper Project team includes Jessie Knoles, Geoffrey Ross, and Chris Prom.