Electronic Expression of Licensing TermsBenefits to LibrariesSteve Probets Loughborough UniversityThe Workshop Date: May 22nd 2006 Attendees BIC Librarians Information Science Department Process Presentation Discussion Follow-up contact and clarificationBenefits and Issues Addressed Awareness Formulation Negotiation Management Ambiguity Technicalities Uptake ToolsAwareness and Enforcement OLT is not an enforcement mechanism Though DRM could be built on top of the licenses OLT may facilitate clarification of usage terms Who is responsible for ensuring license terms are adhered to Provider Library User Vicarious Liability OLT enables usage terms to be presented to users at point of useFormulating Licenses Do we need an authoring tool to create licences? Do we need a license comparison tool ? Enables licenses from different publishers to be compared and differences highlighted Enables a license to be compared to library policy and differences highlighted Would libraries like to create a OLT licenses and ask publishers to meet these termsNegotiating LicencesEnsure consistency between paper and electronic license Replacements not addenda Which is legally binding? Should Service Level Agreements be included in OLT licenses ? Percentage up-time Hours of availability Availability of technical support Response time for queries Notice periods for planned downtime Should payment terms be included ? The period covered When should payment be made Cancellation period Policy on non cancellation Will OLT lead to standardisation ? The OLT dictionary has a rich but well defined vocabulary Management of Licenses OLT could remove filing cabinets full of licenses and ad-hoc use of databases, spreadsheets etc OLT management software is a possibility. Increases certainty over terms Handles expiration, renewal and renegotiation Based on renewal dates and payment termsLicenses and Ambiguity Mapping of written licenses to OLT identifies any logical contradictions in licenses Ambiguities in existing licenses Inter-library loans Distribution to students Reasonable number, up-to-10, or 1 copy per student in one module Virtual learning environments Commercial/non-commercial use Should ambiguity be possible in licenses? Should authoring tool highlight omissions or ambiguities An authoring tool may be able to influence the content of licensesTechnicalities Revisions to the OLT dictionary should be versioned Dictionary versions should be accessible over the internet so tools that use OLT can always access the latest dictionary OLT licenses need to be versioned Confidentiality of the license Uptake Is it a Chicken and Egg situation? Publishers, systems vendors, libraries If vendors of ILS systems provide OLT functionality it could be a selling point But this seems likely only if OLT licenses are available Will publishers create OLT licenses ? Libraries could bridge gap by creating OLT versions of publisher licenses OLT will make it easier to Adhere to licenses Enhance management Benefits user-facing services as well as backroom administration Potential Tools Based On OLT OLT generating software Renewal and license management Look-up tool for library staff Comparison tool for OLT licenses Display usage terms to end-users OLT to text conversion tool Intersect tool