What You'll Learn:
- EBSCO Community Plus (EC+) expands community licensing opportunities while preserving institutional choice and flexibility.
- Libraries can evaluate publisher agreements based on their own needs, priorities, and budgets.
- EC+ supports local decision-making by giving libraries more options for accessing scholarly content.
Libraries have long understood the value of working together. Whether through consortia, shared print partnerships, or research sharing initiatives, collective action expands access to scholarly content, reduces administrative burden, and helps libraries make the most of limited resources.
EBSCO Community Plus (EC+) is built on a simple idea: community licensing should expand options for libraries, not limit them. By combining the benefits of community-based agreements with institutional choice and flexibility, EC+ helps libraries explore new opportunities while maintaining control over the decisions that matter most to their organizations.
For more than a decade, EBSCO has connected libraries with community licensing that leverages our relationships with publishers, our experience with licensing, our understanding of library acquisition workflows, and our commitment to the values and priorities that guide library decision-making.
EC+ brings those efforts together under a more visible program designed to make it easier for libraries to discover, evaluate and participate in publisher agreements negotiated by EBSCO.
“Libraries are being asked to do more with their budgets and with their limited staff time, which makes simplicity increasingly important,” said Ashley Fast, Vice President, Publisher and Library Engagement at EBSCO Information Services. “EC+ is designed to help libraries access community licensing opportunities in a way that preserves choice and flexibility, while bringing libraries and publishers together around a shared commitment to serving students, faculty, and researchers.”
How Does EBSCO Community Plus Preserve Library Choice?
EC+ is intentionally simple and flexible.
EBSCO works with participating publishers to establish community licensing programs that libraries can evaluate based on their own needs and priorities. Eligible institutions can explore available agreements, understand pricing and participation options, and work with EBSCO throughout the process.
By providing access to established agreements and experienced support teams, EC+ helps simplify participation while preserving what matters most: institutional choice, flexibility, and local decision-making.
EC+ is not a consortium, nor is it intended to replace the important role consortia play within the library ecosystem. Consortia remain invaluable partners, bringing institutions together around shared goals and delivering services that extend far beyond content licensing.
EC+ was created to expand opportunities for participation, giving libraries another flexible, library-aligned option for accessing community licensing agreements that support their institutional priorities.
“There is no single model that will work for every library every time,” Fast said. “What libraries consistently tell us is that they want flexibility. They want the ability to participate in community opportunities without sacrificing the flexibility to make decisions that are right for their institution. EC+ is designed around a simple principle: community licensing centered on choice.”
How Can Community Licensing Create Value for Libraries and Publishers?
One of EBSCO’s strengths is its position at the intersection of libraries and publishers. Every day, EBSCO teams partner with libraries on collection development, acquisition, and subscription workflows while maintaining deep relationships across the publishing community.
For libraries, EC+ helps streamline the process of identifying, evaluating, and participating in community licensing opportunities, reducing administrative burden, and supporting existing workflows.
For publishers, EC+ provides an established framework for engaging institutions, expanding reach, and gaining insight into evolving library needs.
As EC+ grows, EBSCO will continue to expand opportunities with leading academic and scholarly publishers, creating more ways for libraries and publishers to work together in support of teaching, learning, and research.
“What excites me most about EC+ is the opportunity to collaborate with both sides of the community,” Fast said. “Libraries need sustainable ways to provide the content their users rely on, and publishers need models that help them reach and support the institutions they serve. EBSCO has longstanding relationships across that ecosystem, and EC+ gives us another way to turn those relationships into opportunities that support both sides of the ecosystem's missions.”
EC+ is designed around a simple principle: community licensing centered on choice.
EC+ is designed around a simple principle: community licensing centered on choice.
A More Flexible Approach to Community Licensing
Libraries have a wide range of missions, budgets, collection strategies, and institutional priorities. That means no single approach to community licensing will be right for every institution.
EC+ broadens the pathways available to libraries, providing another way to participate in community licensing while maintaining institutional choice and flexibility. By leveraging EBSCO's publisher relationships, licensing expertise, and library-service experience, EC+ helps libraries connect their users with the content and resources that best support their institutional missions.
“At the end of the day, this is about the student, the faculty member, and the researcher,” Fast said. “If we can bring libraries and publishers together, make the process easier and help institutions provide more access to valuable content to these users, that is a community worth building.”
Learn More About EBSCO Community Plus
Explore EBSCO Community Plus to learn more about the program and current publisher opportunities or contact EBSCO to discuss which opportunities may be available for your library.
