Best practices, pitfalls and trends

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

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.

Discovery and Investigation

Negotiation and Acquisition

Activation and Implementation

Support and Tracking

Evaluation and Renewal

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

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

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

Pitfall

Failure to launch

Confusion after revisions

Lapse in access

Best Practice

Track progress

Verify final version before sending payment

Ask for trial access during finalization

Pitfall

Which version is being used

Paying too soon

The check is in the mail

Best Practice

Document each version of the agreement

Ensure final agreement is signed by all before paying

Track progress to ensure vendor is paid on time

Pitfall

File and forget

Looking the other way

Letting time slip by

Best Practice

Perform periodic checks

Address issues and hold vendors accountable

Continue to track and set reminders

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

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)

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

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

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