Libraries and Licenses Best practices, pitfalls and trends

Corey S. HalaychikAssistant Professor & Electronic Resources SpecialistUniversity of Tennesseechalaych@utk.edu

You will leave with:

An understanding of the five stages in the electronic resource licensing process.

An awareness of common pitfalls in the licensing process and best practices to counteract them.

An idea of current trends affecting the licensing of electronic resources.

ERM Circle of Life

Discovery and Investigation

Negotiation and

Acquisition

Activation and

Implementation

Support and Tracking

Evaluation and Renewal

Licensing Stages

Offer – Receive initial license from vendor

Mutuality – Discuss terms and conditions

Acceptance – Parties agree to terms

Consideration – Payment exchanged for access

Enforcement – Penalty phase

Source: Association of Research Libraries. “Licensing review and negotiation.” 2003. Online Lyceum. ARL. Office of Leadership and Management Services. URL: http://www.arl.org/training/licensing.html

Offer

Pitfall

Going in blind

Not reading thoroughly

Contract law trumps copyright

Best Practice

Know what your users and institution want

and need

Ensure you have ample time to read and ask questions

Expect the worst and negotiate the best

Mutuality

Pitfall

Accepting “as is”

Failure to find common ground

Vague and confusing language

Best Practice

Show no fear

Know your “frenemy” and find a win-win

Be specific and leave no doubts

Acceptance

Pitfall

Failure to launch

Confusion after revisions

Lapse in access

Best PracticeTrack progress

Verify final version before sending

payment

Ask for trial access during finalization

Consideration

Pitfall

Which version is being used

Paying too soon

The check is in the mail

Best PracticeDocument each

version of the agreement

Ensure final agreement is signed by all before paying

Track progress to ensure vendor is paid

on time

Enforcement

Pitfall

File and forget

Looking the other way

Letting time slip by

Best PracticePerform periodic

checks

Address issues and hold vendors accountable

Continue to track and set reminders

General Tips

Negotiations Be reasonable Be ready to handle objections

Keep the users, usage, and access in mind You want less barriers to access and legal

protection

Make friends with your sales representative They love to hear from you

Trends

SERU Publisher and library agree to follow well-

established and widely-accepted common expectations in lieu of a formal license agreement

Standardization Similar language used by vendors to allow

licenses to be understood correctly and more visible to staff on the front line

Statistical data (COUNTER and SUSHI)

Trends

PDA and Pay-Per-View Licensing models are changing to address

facilitation and portability between devices

Mobile Access Availability, cost, and parameters of a mobile

interface

Scholarly Sharing Changes to address non-library mediated

sharing

Trends

Copyright Recent trend has been a move by rights

holders to place more limitations on sharing

Georgia State University case was seen largely as a decisive victory for fair use and libraries

Could lead to more defined limitation language showing up in agreements

Could also give libraries more leverage to negotiate favorable terms

Helpful Information

Copyright Crash Course: http://copyright.lib.utexas.edu/l-cntrct.html

NISO SERU Homepage: http://www.niso.org/workrooms/seru

LIBLicense: http://www.library.yale.edu/~llicense/index.shtml

My email address chalaych@utk.edu