RE: electronic journals CCC (fwd)

[smedina@ache.state.al.us]

>I commend you on your staunch support of US Copyright Law and the CONTU
>guidelines.  I'm curious, however, as to how many vendors/publishers of
>electronic journals have said, "Tough" and proceeded to deny access?

SUE'S ANSWER:  So far, none.  I have only completed two licenses with
e-journal publishers (although we have more licenses with aggregators).  
Our state's Attorney General advised me that the consortium (Network of
Alabama Academic Libraries) cannot waive the legal rights of the
institutions re: copyright.  So, if the publisher/vendor cannot accept
that, then I cannot go forward with negotiations to complete a license.  
This is not a negotiable choice for NAAL.  If I can't proceed, the vendor
always has the option of working directly with each institution.  One
note:  NAAL licenses have been for more general, broad-based products.  I
have worked on few of specialized science, engineering, technical licenses
-- and I understand that these are the "tough" vendors when it comes to
prohibiting ILL.

>How many readers of this list have negotiated interlibrary loan rights in
>situations where it clearly states that ILL is not permitted from the
>electronic format?

SUE'S ANSWER:  I have completd two license where this provision was
removed from the initial license template.  In one, (an aggregator), the
legal counsel called to tell me that this would not be possible because it
would be "too difficult" for the company to go back to their publishers
and change contracts.  When I said fine, I am sorry that we can't proceed
-- she was surprised (stunned?).  Ultimately (and several months later),
the company came back to us with a contract that was silent on ILL issues.  
They had decided to re-negotiate their own contracts to allow ILL because
their customers were doing the same thing I did --refusing to sign on the
dotted line without ILL.

In the second, the company's legal counsel also called me to tell me that
they couldn't allow ILL.  He did not understand ILL at all.  I explained
how ILL is used by academic libraries -- stressing particularly that ILL
is NOT re-selling or done for profit -- and the license was amended to
allow fair use under the U. S. Copyright Law and CONTU guidelines.

>Aside from dealing with aggregators I do not think that I would have the
>time to negotiate each and every contract.  By not doing so I guess I can
>be accused of allowing the status quo established by the publishers to be
>perpetuated.  The larger library with staff dedicated to more narrow
>duties may be able to negotiate special contracts but that is not the
>case in a small hospital library.

SUE'S ANSWER:  Time is the major advantage of participating in a
consortium. NAAL negotiates database licenses for the members of NAAL (all
the 4-year colleges and universities, both public and private, in
Alabama).  We do this for one library for one database -- or all the
members to share a license for a common database.  While this is not the
only responsibility of this office, it could easily be a full-time job.  
Developing licenses centrally saves a tremendous amount of time for each
individual member institution.  There is also a lot of "clout" associated
with a consortium. If NAAL will not or cannot go forward with a license,
can a vendor/publisher afford to walk away from the entire market
represented in that state?  It is also helpful that I can easily walk away
from a license -- because I don't have a powerful or vocal faculty member
yelling that he/she MUST, ABSOLUTELY MUST have this product. Then, if NAAL
walks away -- the local librarian can tell that faculty member, I am SO
sorry, but the STATE has been unable to negotiate a favorable
license/price for this -- as soon as the state can do this, we will be
glad to add it.

Hope this helps.

Sue Medina

__________________________

smedina@ache.state.al.us said:

> I tell all vendors that NAAL will not waive rights under the U. S.
> Copyright Law and the CONTU guidelines.
>
> Sue O. Medina
> Director
> Network of Alabama Academic Libraries
> P. O. Box 302000
> Montgomery, AL  36130-2000
> 334-242-2211
> smedina@ache.state.al.us