RE: Advice on breach

["Lea, Ben" <bjlea@umr.edu>]

At the risk of saying little more than "Me too!", our experiences have
been very similar.  What the vendor in our most-recent case really wanted
was two things:

a)  assurances that we were taking due diligence in informing users what
the license terms are and what could happen if a second violation
occurred, and

b)  assurances that the user him/herself would not violate the license
agreement again.

To the first end, we took the standard steps (interstitial page notifying
users of the license terms, note to the faculty whose students are the
primary users of the database to the same effect, and so on).

To the second end, we brought the user in for about a one hour session
with a reference librarian, and showed him/her how to do research within
the guidelines of our license agreements.

And that seemed to satisfy all concerned.  In fact, they were satisfied
with communicating with the
significantly-humbler-than-the-Head-of-Collection-Development Electronic
Resources Librarian (i.e., me), rather than going up through the library
hierarchy.

--
Ben Lea
Reference Librarian / Electronic Resources Guy
University of Missouri-Rolla
(573) 341-4007


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Helen Anderson [mailto:HAnderson@rcl.lib.rochester.edu]
> Sent: Friday, October 27, 2000 5:46 PM
> To: liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
> Subject: Advice on breach
> 
> 
> We were recently informed by a vendor that one of our users had downloaded
> thousands of articles from one of the vendors titles in very short period
> of time.  Wanting to comply, we identified the culprit and have taken
> appropriate action. Still, the vendor asks us to provide them with an
> assurance that such downloading will not take place again.
> 
> This is our first breach ever. I am wondering, in material terms, how I
> can confidently issue such an assurance when these things are impossible
> to control? We can educate our users, but we can't stand over them while
> they work. Would it not be more practical for the vendor to put into place
> some kind of warning that pops up on the screen when someone reaches a
> certain level of downloading? Aren't there products that do this now? I
> think I heard that NetLibrary does this.
> 
> Also, should the letter go out to the vendor under the name of the Dean of
> Libraries, or would one from the humble office of the Head of  Collection
> Development or Acquisitions suffice? What is the protocol here?
> 
> Any recommendations?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Helen Anderson
> Head, Collection Development
> River Campus Libraries
> University of Rochester
> Tel. 716-275-3302
> e-mail handerson@rcl.lib.rochester.edu