[IRTalk] For immediate release: OASPA Announces Launch of New Supporter Membership Category

[Bernie Folan]

We hope you may be interested in the development announced in the press
release below and online on our blog
<https://oaspa.org/oaspa-announces-launch-of-new-supporter-membership-category/>
.

Best wishes,
Bernie
.


OASPA Announces Launch of New Supporter Membership Category

Membership expanded to non-publisher organisations and individuals to
broaden open scholarship discussion with additional perspectives

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  9 JUNE 2022



Today OASPA launches a new way to advance open scholarship: Supporter
Membership. In commitment to its mission goal to convene community
stakeholders to share experiences, discuss problems and identify
opportunities in the advancement of open access; and in recognition of the
diversity of stakeholders invested in open access, OASPA has launched this
new membership category.



With the Supporter Membership category, OASPA welcomes organisations and
individuals without a publishing program to have a formal place in the
organisation and to support its work.



“We are excited to launch this new way for organisations to support our
work to advance open access publishing” says Claire Redhead, Executive
Director of OASPA.



“OASPA's growth has followed the expansion of open access itself,
encompassing a broad range of organisations engaged in different and
innovative approaches to open access publishing or providing key services
and infrastructures. Increasingly in our events we are getting to the heart
of some of the issues that all stakeholders in the scholarly communication
systems are impacted by.  As we continue to work towards an equitable
future for open scholarship, it is important to bring in as many voices as
possible. It's been heartening to see the level of interest in our
activities from an ever growing number of organisations and regions of the
world.



We are delighted to extend a welcome beyond our traditional members and to
enable all who care about open scholarship to join our community”





OASPA saw its membership grow faster in 2021 than in recent years, with
that trend continuing into 2022. OASPA’s popular events program -
consisting of a webinar series
<https://oaspa.org/information-resources/oaspa-webinars/> and annual
conference <https://oaspa.org/conference/> -  attracted over 2500 attendees
in 2021 with a growing majority from organisations, and academic settings,
that are not directly involved in OA publishing. This evidence of strong
interest in OASPA’s work from non-members led OASPA to develop this new
offering.



 For more information about the new Supporter category or to join as a
supporter, please visit https://oaspa.org/support-oaspa/



###

*About OASPA *

OASPA is a diverse community of organisations engaged in open scholarship
with a mission to encourage and enable open access as the predominant model
of communication for scholarly outputs. Our membership includes scholar-led
and professional publishers of books and journals, across varied
geographies and disciplines, as well as infrastructure and other services.
We are a trusted convenor of the broad, global spectrum of open access
stakeholders and a proven venue for productive collaboration. In our work
we develop and disseminate solutions that advance open access and ensure a
diverse, vibrant, and healthy open access community.

The team rely on a small number of financial sources
<https://oaspa.org/learn-more-about-oaspas-funding-and-activities/> to
enable their work, and make outputs openly available.

*Media contact* Bernie Folan, Communications, Engagement and Outreach
Manager Open Access Scholarly Publishing Association, OASPA
bernie.folan at oaspa.org
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