Supporting Digital Scholarship

“In the late 1990’s, the growing availability of electronic journals converged with the development of library consortia as the cost-effective purchasing mechanisms to successfully and broadly expand access to scholarly information at academic libraries large and small. There was much focus on the very expensive journals of the large STEM publishers. But this left the humanities and social sciences, whose important publications were more widely scattered across various society and university presses.

“OhioLINK, which brought together an array of research universities, liberal arts colleges, and community colleges, had to address the broadest set of academic disciplinary needs. Fortunately, in those early years of operation, Project MUSE partnered with OhioLINK and other consortia to provide broad access to a growing array of society and university press material. Project MUSE was undeniably a leader and an essential component of our electronic journal program.

“As the OhioLINK executive director at the time, I am proud that our consortium was partnered with Project MUSE beginning in 1999. There were immediate benefits across our community, and no doubt those benefits will continue into the future. I wish Project MUSE 25 more years of success.”

—Tom Sanville

“A tough but always fair negotiator, Tom taught me quite a lot about how to work with library consortia to create mutually successful partnerships that provided expansive library and researcher access, along with sustainable revenues and far-reaching impact for not-for-profit publishers. It was my great pleasure to collaborate with him, both during his time at OhioLINK and later with LYRASIS, and I’m very grateful for the work we did together on behalf of Project MUSE and our constituencies.”

—Melanie Schaffner, Project MUSE staff member since 1996