Transformative agreements in Italian university libraries: the experience of the Statale in Milan

Abstract

After an introduction on the actions undertaken in favour of open science in Italy and Europe, the article analyses the transformative agreements which the libraries of Italian universities have signed since 2020 via CARE Group (Coordination Group for Access to Electronic Resources, These agreements represent a move towards new commercial models. away from the traditional subscription model, based on paid subscriptions to access content. These agreements include read and publish – with a price composed of a read component (I pay to read) and a publish component (I pay to publish on open access) - which allows for licences for open publication in hybrid journals and, for some agreements, in fully OA journals as well. The management of CARE transformative agreements within the University Library Service of the University of Milan is subsequently described, with an attempt, at last, at a pragmatical analysis of the experience of transformative agreements to date, to be run with a critical eye and a data based approach.