Previous by Date Index by Date
Threaded Index
Next by Date


Previous by Thread Next by Thread


Re: Perpetual Access

  For the benefit of liblicense-l subscribers who are not familiar with
the tradition in libraries, and for Bede Ireland's benefit, I would like
to reply with an emphatic yes! that libraries do indeed expect to have
access in perpetuity to information after the term of license has expired. 
Librarians are coming from the print world (actually a mixed media world
in which print is still the dominant format), and when we drop a
subscription to a print resource we do not expect to gather up the issues
paid for and return them to the publisher.  Even though we continue to be
bound by copyright limitations, we in fact own the artifact (i.e., paper
issue).  Publishers would like to limit fair use provisions of the US
Copyright law, so it is no wonder that they have taken the "lease"
approach we see with electronic publications.  It is their right to take
that position, and it is entirely understandable given that they exist in
a profit making environment.  It is also entirely understandable that
librarians should resist those efforts and propose other licensing
provisions that protect access once paid for.  Any commercial vendor that
fails to understand the library position and find mutually accommodating
compromises will fail to succeed in the library marketplace. 

                                                Gordon Fretwell
						Associate Director for Public
						  Services and Systems
						University Library
						405 DuBois Library
						University of Massachusetts
						Amherst, MA   01003-4710
						Phone 413-545-0284
						Fax   413-545-6873
						Home Phone 413-367-9573



http://www.library.yale.edu/liblicense
© 1996, 1997 Yale University Library
Please read our Disclaimer
E-mail us with feedback