Re: Online services to contiguous research parts

["Tom Sanders" <sandetr@groupwise1.duc.auburn.edu>]

What do your vendors say about adding these companies to your user base? I
would think you could potentially get into a lot of trouble with your
vendors unless you renegotiated your contracts in more of a consortial
mode.  These companies will probably not be considered part of the user
group included under your current contract.  The vendor will probably want
to review the size of the user group and increase the price of service.

At the same time you will want to look at the impact on your operation.
Will you need to increase number of simultaneous users?  By how many? Will
there be an impact on service to your academic users as these companies
connect through your servers?  Will you need to provide more technical
support and more training opportunities to accommodate the needs of your
new clients?  Will you need enhanced equipment and staffing?  If so, will
you be able to recoup your additional support costs in addition to the
added contract costs?  How will you ensure that access is restricted to
the new contract group and not shared by your clients with non-authorized
users?  I'm sure there are a lot of other questions that will need to be
answered.

Since the issue of print resources has been brought up, many years ago I
worked for a business school library where the ability of corporate users
to borrow print resources was restricted to those who paid a substantial
annual fee.  Other companies could send someone to the library and use
materials on site but could not borrow them.  (Some companies got around
this by hiring the spouses of students.)  This was seen as necessary
because it helped prevent the library from being stripped of useable
materials by non-academics and as reasonable because the companies would
otherwise have had to spend money acquiring materials and employing staff.  
I suspect some of the same rationale could be applied in your situation.  
Presumably nothing stops these companies from sending someone to your
library to use your resources.  They simply would find it cheaper and more
convenient for you to set up library service for them.

I suspect also this is somewhere the university lawyers might need to
get involved, as you will be a non-profit institution providing services
to for-profit corporations.

TSanders
Auburn University Libraries
(my opinions only, not necessarily reflecting a position of the
library)