Re: A question of licences and Alumni members

["John Cox" <John.E.Cox@btinternet.com>]

There has been a very interesting exchange about alumnus access over the
past few days.  It has clarified my initial preconception that there is no
agreement within the library community over this issue.  I suspect that
the demand comes from the private sector universities, almost all of which
are in the USA - institutions like Yale.  For the major public sector or
state universities - almost all the rest in the USA and throughout the
rest of the world - alumnus access presents serious funding, content
control and access management problems.

It sounds as though alumnus access is an optional benefit which should be
subject to additional payment.  The question is then: how much?

John Cox
John.E.Cox@btinternet.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Ann Okerson <aokerson@pantheon.yale.edu>
To: liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu <liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu>
Date: 19 July 2000 04:33
Subject: Re: A question of licences and Alumni members


>To John Cox and Mike Spinella:  It interests me that you separate the
>Alumni Association from the University.  At my place the AYA is part of
>the campus life and entity.  And all of us participate in various alumni
>activities, publications, and so on.
>
>As to the question of where the alumni information need comes from, I am
>with Scott Wicks: there is definitely a demand; it is NOT
>library-generated but it is directed toward the library because we are
>generally thought of as the place on campus that finds ways to deliver
>information of all sorts to our readers.  My guess is that for various
>reasons, the connections between US universities and their alumni are much
>more strong than in the UK or many other countries, and that this
>tradition is possibly more strongly held in smaller American colleges and
>the private universities than in the big state schools. But even the the
>bigt schools, there is certainly a culture of ongoing contact with alumni,
>lifelong learning, and all that goes with it.
>
>Cheers, Ann Okerson
>Ann.Okerson@yale.edu
>_____________________________________
>
>On Tue, 18 Jul 2000, John Cox wrote:
>
>> Ann Okerson raises some interesting issues.  The following comments can
>> only reflect my personal view, the context of which is to license all
uses
>> the licensee institution needs in order to undertake its teaching and
>> research properly while keeping the paperwork to a minimum:
>>
>> 1.  It does not make sense to go for a separate license.  Access to
alumni
>> is acceptable to many publishers provided that it is restricted to access
>> made on terminals in the library itself or on courses/events run by the
>> institution.  All such use is restricted to personal study and research.
>>
>> 2.  If the course is run by the institution, individuals are covered by
>> the usual license definition of Authorised Users including "faculty,
staff
>> and students"; they qualify as students.  But the course must be run by
>> the institution, not by a separate organisation like an alumni
association
>> for which the licensee institution is not responsible.
>>
>> I have a more general comment.  Where is this pressing demand for alumnus
>> access coming from?  In my experience and that of my friends, we all move
>> on quickly from an important three or four year experience to the rest of
>> our lives.  My fellow alumni do get together for reunions etc, but these
>> are mainly social.  University was a milestone in our lives, but only
>> that.  Of those who have gone into academic life, they will use the
>> libraries available to them at their present universities.  The rest of
us
>> move into other modes of life.  Is this demand merely a "nice to do"
>> thought by librarians?  Show publishers the real demand, and we will
>> respond.
>>
>> But it sounds like tilting at windmills!
>>
>> John Cox
>> John.E.Cox@btinternet.com
>> www.licensingmodels.com