National Licensing Forum

Site licensing - a national issue

Introduction

Increasingly, libraries are providing access to information through the licensing of electronic resources. While for many library users this provides access to many resources which would otherwise be unavailable, there are some concerns, largely because the licensing of electronic information resources is usually a commercial arrangement, with vendors . Some information users may have limited access to such resources because they fall outside the core user communities for the libraries which subscribe to the resources. Although most licences now allow for use by walk-in users in subscribing libraries, they do not generally allow for offsite access by non-core users. In some instances authentication issues restrict all use to onsite users only.

The 2003 Peak Bodies Forum suggested that the National Library convene a forum on the issue of site licensing from a national perspective. The aim of the discussion will be to ensure access by as many Australians as possible to as wide a range of resources as are required. A number of other bodies have been discussing licensing and consortia in the past couple of years, so many of the issues below are not new.

What is the purpose of site licencing at a national level?

At present in Australia there are many consortia serving various user communities - higher education, state libraries, public libraries, public health organisations. Each serve different (but often overlapping) communities. Perceived problems include:

  • inadequate funding,
  • smaller institutions or consortia do not have the user base to justify the cost of some resources,
  • some institutions do not have people skilled in negotiation and/or contract management,
  • inequity of access between institutions and between sectors, and
  • some users are currently unable to access resources because of lack of institutional affiliation (eg, independent scholars). User authentication procedures may exclude walk-in or offsite users in some organisations.

Is there a way to ensure all users, even those working as independent researchers, have convenient access to the resources they require?

Resource issues

The proliferation of consortia would indicate that there is generally some advantage to the formation of such groups to facilitate access to electronic resources. For any particular institution, the issues would seem to be:

  • better pricing achieved through a consortial approach to a vendor,
  • reduced administrative overheads for individual consortia members,
  • consistency of access for users (eg, academics moving between institutions),
  • centralised negotiations with vendors on licence terms.

Lobbying

  • Is there scope for increased lobbying by users (individual, institutional, sectoral or consortial) to highlight the relevant recommendations of the Senate Inquiry?
  • Is a large consortium (covering expanded membership or a consortium of consortia) able to exert any influence on product development?

Issues for site licensing

For any national approach there will be issues to be resolved:

  • Planning. Who will undertake strategic planning and develop the strategic directions and business plans? How will this be done? How long would it take?
  • Infrastructure - licence administration, negotiations, legal agreements with vendors, ongoing administration. Do new entities need to be established to carry out such tasks? If so, how would this be done? Without appropriate management, many broad licensing endeavours are likely to fail. Sustainability is an important issue for all concerned.
  • Would a series of site licences provide access to all potential users, or are there still categories of user who lack access to the resources they require? What should be the basis of cost sharing - user population, budget, usage?
  • How would any broader site licences be funded?
  • Who decides national priorities in terms of resources? APAFT is frequently mentioned as a candidate for broad site licensing, but are there other very widely used resources? Is JSTOR one that should be considered? Should there be an emphasis on Australian content? How much consultation is necessary in choosing resources for consideration, prioritising, and negotiating licence terms? How is agreement reached on content, on licence terms.
  • Are there opportunities for more centrally organised training and user education programs? Do existing consortia cooperate in running training programs and the development of training materials?
  • How will the varying relationships between the state libraries and public libraries influence the way a site licence might be implemented?
  • How are "users" defined? Do individual users need to be associated with an institution, or can they be independent of formal affiliations?
  • If a site licence is negotiated for particular library sectors, would participation by individual libraries or consortia be voluntary or compulsory? How crucial is participation level to the success of the undertaking?

Existing consortia

  • Broader site licences will cut across some existing consortia. Is it desirable or possible that an existing consortia could become the central administrative body for a wider site licence?
  • Are there other roles for existing consortia in a new model for wider site licences? There is a school of thought that the Australian market already has too many consortia, but it is unlikely any wider site licensing initiative would reduce the number of existing consortia, because each has developed in response to specific perceived needs, which a broader-based site licence will not address because of the difficulty in finding products which have national appeal.
  • Should an Australian group of ICOLC (International Coalition of Library Consortia) be formed?

Communication

  • For a licence to succeed, there needs to be adequate communication between the users of the resources, and the administrative body. How is such communication set up and maintained? How can it be done better?
  • How are the resources promoted to users?
  • How do users provide feedback?
  • What communication channels could be set up between users and their institutions?
  • Is it possible to improve communication between vendors and users on matters such as changes in content (titles added or deleted from datasets), embargoes imposed on content from particular titles, and the quality of content of datasets ?

Vendor issues

  • Is a wider site licensing approach one which vendors will support?
  • Archiving of resources. Many individual and consortial members will have concerns about long term support for subscribed resources. How are vendors and publishers addressing the issues? Should there be national storage for copies of subscribed content not held within Australia, to provide security of access over time? CAUL's CEIRC group has done some thinking on the issue of preservation of access to subscribed resources

How do we get from the present situation, where many Australians have little or no access to electronic resources, to a situation where access is affordable and convenient for researchers, scholars and those pursuing independent learning?

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