<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">We hope you may be interested in the development announced in the press release below and online <a href="https://oaspa.org/oaspa-announces-launch-of-new-supporter-membership-category/" target="_blank">on our blog</a>.<div><br></div><div>Best wishes,</div><div>Bernie</div><div>.<div><span id="m_4438031327869840755gmail-docs-internal-guid-58f9d780-7fff-e4e3-73f6-4c9c03c3f036"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.295;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;padding:0pt 0pt 20pt"><br></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.44;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;padding:0pt 0pt 8pt"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">OASPA Announces Launch of New Supporter Membership Category</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.44;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;padding:0pt 0pt 8pt"><font size="4"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Membership expanded to non-publisher organisations and individuals to broaden open scholarship</span><span style="font-family:Arial;background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> discussion with additional perspectives</span></font><span style="font-family:Arial;background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><font size="4"><br></font><span style="font-size:11pt"><br></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.44;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;padding:0pt 0pt 8pt"><span style="font-family:Arial;background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span style="font-family:Roboto,sans-serif">FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  </span></span><span style="font-family:Arial;color:rgb(43,10,38);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">9</span><span style="font-family:Arial;background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> JUNE 2022</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.295;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:rgb(60,64,67);font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">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. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:rgb(60,64,67);font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">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.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-left:36pt;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial;background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“We are excited to launch this new way for organisations to support our work to advance open access publishing” says </span><span style="font-family:Arial;background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-style:italic;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Claire Redhead</span><span style="font-family:Arial;background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">, Executive Director of OASPA. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-left:36pt;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-left:36pt;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial;background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“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.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-left:36pt;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-left:36pt;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial;background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">We are delighted to extend a welcome beyond our traditional members and to enable all who care about open scholarship to join our community”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial;background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">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 </span><a href="https://oaspa.org/information-resources/oaspa-webinars/" style="text-decoration-line:none" target="_blank"><span style="font-family:Arial;background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;text-decoration-line:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">webinar series</span></a><span style="font-family:Arial;background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> and </span><a href="https://oaspa.org/conference/" style="text-decoration-line:none" target="_blank"><span style="font-family:Arial;background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;text-decoration-line:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">annual conference</span></a><span style="font-family:Arial;background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> -  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.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> <span style="font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-family:Roboto,sans-serif;color:rgb(60,64,67);vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">For more information about the new Supporter category or to join as a supporter, please visit </span><a href="https://oaspa.org/support-oaspa/" style="text-decoration-line:none" target="_blank"><span style="font-family:Roboto,sans-serif;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;text-decoration-line:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">https://oaspa.org/support-oaspa/</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:center;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;padding:0pt 0pt 20pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">###</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;padding:0pt 0pt 20pt"><span style="font-family:Arial;background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><u>About OASPA </u></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;padding:0pt 0pt 20pt"><span style="font-family:Roboto,sans-serif;color:rgb(60,64,67);font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">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.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;padding:0pt 0pt 20pt"><span style="font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-family:Roboto,sans-serif;color:rgb(60,64,67);vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">The team rely on a </span><a href="https://oaspa.org/learn-more-about-oaspas-funding-and-activities/" style="text-decoration-line:none" target="_blank"><span style="font-family:Roboto,sans-serif;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;text-decoration-line:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">small number of financial sources</span></a><span style="font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-family:Roboto,sans-serif;color:rgb(60,64,67);vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> to enable their work, and make outputs openly available.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;padding:0pt 0pt 20pt"><span style="font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><b style="color:rgb(60,64,67);font-family:Roboto,sans-serif">Media contact</b><font color="#3c4043" face="Roboto, sans-serif"><b>
</b></font></span><span style="background-color:transparent;font-family:Arial;white-space:pre-wrap">Bernie Folan, Communications, Engagement and Outreach Manager
</span><span style="background-color:transparent;font-family:Arial;white-space:pre-wrap">Open Access Scholarly Publishing Association, OASPA
</span><a href="mailto:bernie.folan@oaspa.org" style="text-decoration-line:none" target="_blank"><span style="font-family:Arial;background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;text-decoration-line:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">bernie.folan@oaspa.org</span></a></p></span></div><div><br><div><div><div dir="ltr" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div><font color="#666666"><br></font></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
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