OA agreement stories: University Lumière Lyon 2, France

Author: Nicole Jackson

Senior Marketing Manager

What does the day-to-day management of an open access (OA) agreement look like from a librarian’s perspective? This blog series introduces you to librarians and those in charge of implementing Springer Nature OA agreements from various research institutions. They share their experiences and offer insights into how OA agreements affect their work, the library, and the researchers they serve. 

In this edition of the series, an E-resource manager at the University Lumière Lyon 2, part of the Couperin-Springer transformative agreement (TA) in France, shares their insights into working with this partial coverage agreement. 

What is a partial coverage transformative agreement?   

The Couperin-Springer TA is one of many partial coverage TAs at Springer Nature. It offers researchers in 49 academic institutions in France full access to the Springer portfolio of journals, as well as enabling them to publish OA in Springer, Palgrave, and Adis hybrid journals.    

Partial coverage means that the allocation of articles within the TA only covers part of the expected publishing volume from participating institutions. This model helps librarians and their institutions to support the growth of OA through a TA, but can provide some obstacles in determining which articles will get the financial support available. This decision often sits with Approval Managers within the institutions or the consortia as a whole.    

Thanks for coming on the blog! Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your role in the library?  

I work at Lyon 2 Lumière University Libraries in France as an E-resource manager. I live in Lyon, and I love cycling, hiking, and listening to independent rock.  

I started out as a library technician in cataloguing, then went on to train students in information skills. I then joined the library's IT department and became administrator of the Koha ILS. Since 2022, wishing to return to more library-oriented missions, I have been in charge of electronic documentation for the university's libraries. 

“Since the university joined the Couperin-Springer TA, I have more interaction with the research department, the open science service, and the teaching researchers, who need to be kept informed of their opportunities to publish OA under the agreements.” 

What does a typical workday look like for you? 

I always start and end my days checking the calendar and reading emails, and saying “hello” in the morning and “bye bye” at the end.😉 

My job is a cross-disciplinary one, and I work with a lot of people from different departments within the library and the university. The team to which I belong is made up of around ten people, but I work a lot with two of them.   

On any given day, I help researchers in their search for documentation, and support them by resolving problems and questions regarding online access. This is what I most enjoy about my work.   

Another part of my work includes collecting statistics, prospecting for new resources, and managing the budget, administrative, and legal aspects for the institution. 

What kind of interactions and inquiries do you have related to the agreement, and how do you stay informed to be able to provide support to your researchers on this?   

Since the university joined the Couperin-Springer TA, I have more interaction with the research department, the open science service, and the teaching researchers, who need to be kept informed of their opportunities to publish OA under the read-and-publish agreements.  

The most frequently asked question by researchers on publishing OA is ‘which publishers does our institution have agreements with?’ 

To educate researchers on OA agreements and publishing OA, we produce flyers, publish a web page to support our work, and speak to research committees and laboratory documentation referents. To stay up to date myself on OA agreements, I rely on webinars as well as editors and consortia websites.    

What was the primary reason for the University Lumière Lyon 2 becoming part of the Couperin-Springer TA, in your opinion? 

We entered into the agreement (in January 2025) for the reading component, especially for access to the Palgrave Macmillan journals, and to increase the momentum initiated on the publishing component after the first agreements signed with Cambridge and Elsevier. We think it's a good thing that the range of publishers involved in our reading and publishing agreements is growing.  

“The agreements are signed by the establishment to help control costs and enable better budget management, while widely disseminating scientific knowledge and contributing to the visibility of the research carried out by our establishments.” 

Tell us about your work within the Couperin agreement when it started. What has changed in your daily workflows or practices? 

The university wanted to conclude a public contract and it was very complicated. The user license negotiated with the Couperin consortium was not legally sufficient for the university's legal department and we needed to make it fit for purpose for us to meet our internal standards before we could start.  

With the agreement, it is clearer for researchers that they can publish OA for free in certain Springer journals. However, as the number of publications included in the agreement is insufficient, things may get more complicated and we’ll have to explain to researchers why they cannot publish with fees covered once the number of publications has exceeded.   

Now that it is underway, the agreement has meant that I have more interaction with other departments and teacher-researchers, and I do more communication and teaching. To me, these closer links with research are the biggest advantage of being part of an OA agreement.  

What advice would you have for other institutions or consortia looking to transition to OA, and in particular, become part of an OA agreement?    

OA agreements are a collaboration between publishers, librarians, and scientific research on cost control. But it is definitely a myth that OA agreements mean that publishing is now free; it is not free but included in the price of the agreement.  

Reading and publication agreements are signed by the establishment to help control costs and enable better budget management, while widely disseminating scientific knowledge and contributing to the visibility of the research carried out by our establishments.  

To those considering joining an agreement I would say that the first agreements are not always fully satisfactory, but they can be improved over time. 

Check out the previous blogs in the OA agreement stories series:  

• OA agreement stories: Dr Deepali Kuberkar, Tata Memorial Hospital.
• OA agreement stories: University of Miami 
• OA agreement stories: Mark Robison, University of Notre Dame 
• OA agreement stories: Jeff Carroll, Rutgers University 

Look out for more blogs in this series, featuring OA librarians from different institutions across the globe. Meanwhile, visit the OA agreements website, where you can find more information and resources.   

Related content 

• Supporting global open data through what really works 
• How your researchers can easily identify their eligibility to publish OA 
• Increasing equity through open access agreements  
• Accelerating open access at scale: Key insights for research librarians 
• Supporting open science: Exploring barriers and solutions to data sharing 
• Facilitating the transition towards open access (OA) publishing  
• Librarians in the age of open access: An evolving role  
• Empowering librarians to promote open access   
• Libraries leading the transition to open access   

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