The Center for Research Libraries (CRL) and its NERL licensing program have renewed their partnership with MIT Press to continue supporting the MIT Direct to Open (D2O) program through 2026. The renewal highlights the collective influence of CRL and NERL members in securing favorable terms and expanded access to scholarship that individual institutions could not achieve independently.
For 2026, the D2O program introduces expanded content offering. Participating institutions can now include collections from Duke University Press and Goldsmiths Press, alongside D2O’s existing Humanities & Social Sciences and STEAM collections. Together, these form the Complete Collection, enabling broader open access at reduced costs while providing perpetual access guarantees—an essential safeguard as open access models evolve.
Since its launch in 2021, MIT Press’s Diamond open access model for digital monographs has opened access to 320 books, underscoring the success of collective funding. The program’s sustainable fee structure, aligned with institutional size, supports CRL and NERL’s mission to balance affordability with impact. If funding thresholds for any collection are met by the November 30, 2025, deadline, those titles will open. Even when thresholds are not met, participating libraries retain perpetual access to supported collections and term access to related backfiles, including a gated backlist of about 2,500 titles and discounted access to MIT Press trade books.
The addition of Duke University Press and Goldsmiths Press marks the next phase of the program’s expansion. Between 2026 and 2028, Duke University Press will contribute 20 frontlist humanities and social sciences titles and provide access to a 250-title backlist. Goldsmiths Press will offer four new frontlist titles over the same period, extending its commitment to sustainable open access publishing.
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