Tim Schlak will explore the characterization of smaller academic libraries as “free riders” in the open access (OA) ecosystem. He argues that the term “free rider” misrepresents these institutions, as they often lack the resources to contribute to OA publishing and are instead constrained by rising subscription costs and limited budgets. Schlak emphasizes that the dynamics of OA participation are more complex than the traditional “free rider” model suggests, highlighting the systemic challenges faced by smaller libraries in the current scholarly publishing landscape.