Vendor nondisclosure agreement

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

(This has also been posted to ACQNET -- apologies for any duplication.)

A member of the Acquisitions staff here at UNR recently registered to use
the website of one of our vendors, and subsequently received in the mail a
nondisclosure agreement to be signed by everyone in the department who
plans to use the site; the NDA says that we promise not to give out our
password. We're not talking about access to a database of online content
here, but rather to the vendor's ordering service and title list.  No
other vendor we work with requires us to sign such an agreement, and
frankly, I don't really see why we should.  I'm inclined to say "No,
thanks."  (Interestingly, I recently had a similar conversation with the
folks at netLibrary, who include nondisclosure language in their standard
license agreement.  We took that language out, which is why I can tell you
it exists.)  It's not that we want to distribute our password, of course;
it's just that I don't like making contractual agreements without good
reason.

I assume that others have either signed or refused to sign this agreement
or others like it -- any interesting and/or helpful experiences to share?

-------------
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