In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in March 2020 we instituted a temporary set of no-fee expanded access programs for participating institutions; as the crisis continued, we extended this access through June 2021. The programs clearly met a need, and millions of people are using this material today. Given our mission to provide access to knowledge and education to as many people as possible, we are challenging ourselves now to find a way to sustain and build upon this new level of access. This is why, with the support of our Board of Trustees, we have:

  1. Extended the expiration date for the JSTOR journal and primary sources expanded access program for another year, until June 30, 2022. Institutions currently taking advantage of this program do not need to do anything. For those academic institutions that have not signed up but would like to, you can request access by logging into your library admin account.
  2. Reduced pricing for Artstor Digital Library for all institutions, in some communities by up to 30%. The updated fee structure will apply immediately to those institutions that have had access under the no-cost program, which ends June 30, 2021. To make this fee reduction sustainable while providing significant savings, it will be phased in over 3 years for existing Artstor participants.

Our focus will now turn to reconsidering the fees for JSTOR. Our Board of Trustees and the JSTOR Library Advisory Group enthusiastically support this work. Changing the JSTOR model is a complex endeavor and will take time. In the coming months, we will be engaging with our community of library and publisher participants as we consider various approaches. Our aim is to have a revised model to share in the first half of 2022.