License problem with American Geophysical Union

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

Here's another question for the collective wisdom.

I'm negotiating a license agreement with the American Geophysical Union,
and I'm finding them surprisingly unwilling to bend on a term that, if
left unchanged, would make our library institutionally responsible for the
behavior of all authorized users.  Actually, the AGU has bent somewhat --
first by rephrasing the clause but leaving it functionally identical, then
by substantively changing it without leaving the library clearly free of
institutional responsibility for patron misuse.  The changes are getting
us closer to an acceptable license, but I'm surprised by AGU's unique
unwillingness simply to take that language out.  My contact there tells me
that some (though not all) of AGU's library customers have simply signed
off on the original language.  I find that hard to believe, unless these
customers are signing their licenses without reading them, which is
(unfortunately) a possibility.

Has anyeone out there either made a conscious decision to accede to the
terms as written, or succeeded in getting AGU to change them
substantively?

-------------
Rick Anderson
Director of Resource Acquisition
University of Nevada, Reno Libraries
(775) 784-6500 x273
rickand@unr.edu