Re: digest 96

[Carol Fleishauer <fleish@MIT.EDU>]

In reponse to Joe Kraus' concerns about signing the SciFinder Scholar
Contract prior to the trial of the product, this has certainly stalled
consideration of the product by many of us.  Add the restrictive language
of the contract itself and the fact that the product is only available to
5 p.m. to 5 a.m., and it becomes a fairly unattractive proposition, even
though the product itself is of course highly desirable.  I hope enough
libraries can resist that CAS will have to change its strategy.

Carol Fleishauer
Associate Director for Collection Services
MIT Libraries      617-253-5962      fleish@mit.edu

_______________

>From: Joe Kraus <jokraus@du.edu>
>To: liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
>Subject: Re: SciFinder Scholar Contract (fwd)
>Date: Sun, 18 Oct 1998 17:23:26 EDT
>
>Hello,
>
>The Univ. of Denver is considering getting CAS's SciFinder Scholar
>product.  However, even before we can trial the database and the interface
>for 30 days, we need to sign a contract agreement with them before the
>trial.  After talking with the CAS rep - Christopher Faine - I learned
>that we could not sign two agreements, one for the trial, and then one for
>the paid license.  (Maybe it is more of a case for the CAS to /strongly
>prefer/ one contract?)  Once we sign a contract for the trial, it would
>presumably be the same contract for the license, thus we could not make
>any changes.
>
>I do not see how it makes sense for us to involve our lawyer to look at
>the legal wording of a contract BEFORE a decision on purchase is made.  I
>would want our lawyer to make any necessary changes to the contract AFTER
>the University has made a decision to purchase.  But, I guess that CAS
>will not allow such changes.
>
>I know that other institutions can't divulge the details of their contract
>agreements with the CAS, but I would like to know how others have dealt
>with similar situations - whether from the CAS or not.
>
>I usually do not concern myself with vendor contracts, so I don't
>know if this is typical of the CAS. (ie. We must sign a contract BEFORE
>agreeing to purchase.)  I do know that many other science info vendors are
>much more open to giving 30 day trials without making you sign a contract
>first.  
>
>Do I have any alternatives?  Any thoughts - ideas?
>________________________________________________________________
>Joseph R. Kraus   Science Librarian   Penrose Library   
>Univ. of Denver   2150 E. Evans       Denver, CO 80208
>(303) 871-4586    jokraus@du.edu      http://www.du.edu/~jokraus