Back in 2008 researchers and librarians at CERN wanted to be sure that the high energy and particle physics journals they utilize would be freely available to any reader in the world, not just readers at institutions with subscriptions. CERN worked with the journal publishers and libraries across the globe to make that possible. JH Libraries participated in this effort.
Instead of individual libraries paying for journal subscriptions for their own researchers, the libraries formed a coalition: SCOAP3 – the Sponsoring Consortium for Open Access Publishing in Particle Physics. Subscription funds move from the libraries to SCOAP3. SCOAP3 negotiates agreements and finances with the journal publishers, allowing the publishers to continue their work without subscriptions from individual libraries. In turn, the journals make their articles Open Access, freely available for anyone with an internet connection.
Meetings and negotiations were held across the globe between 2008 and 2013, and in 2014, SCOAP3 allowed a set of particle physics journals to make their articles freely available.
Since 2014, a few journals have joined the effort, and SCOAP3 recently announced that they’ve made 20,000 articles freely available.
JH Libraries support several Open Access initiatives; you can see a list here.