RE: Advice on breach

["Rick Anderson" <rickand@unr.edu>]

> This is our first breach ever. I am wondering, in material terms, how I
> can confidently issue such an assurance when these things are impossible
> to control?

You can't, and in my opinion, you should be very careful not to sign
license agreements that say you will.  I always keep an eye out for such
language in licenses and I always replace it with language that says that
users are responsible for their own behavior.  If the publisher doesn't
want to risk the possibility of individual hacking, then the publisher
should get out of the business of selling access to large numbers of users
at once.  It's not the library's job to eliminate risk for the publisher
-- it's the library's job to pay for the product and administer it
responsibly.  No matter how good a job the library does, risk will always
remain.

> Also, should the letter go out to the vendor under the name of the Dean of
> Libraries, or would one from the humble office of the Head of Collection
> Development or Acquisitions suffice? What is the protocol here?

You're always safe sending it out over the Dean's signature, but it's
really up to you.

-------------
Rick Anderson
Electronic Resources/Serials Coordinator
The University Libraries
University of Nevada, Reno
1664 No. Virginia St.
Reno, NV  89557
PH  (775) 784-6500 x273
FX  (775) 784-1328
rickand@unr.edu