Problems with Blackwell Publishing Standard License Agreement

[Ann Okerson <ann.okerson@yale.edu>]

Date: Fri, 14 Feb 2003 18:49:19 EST
From: kdebus@library.wisc.edu
To: liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
Subject: Problems with the Blackwell Publishing Standard License agreement

Dear Liblicense-l members,

The University of Wisconsin-Madison has recently reviewed the license from
Blackwell Publishing for the new "free" standard access to their
e-journals.  As you probably know, the Standard License gives us access to
the current and previous year of the Blackwell Publishing titles if we
also have a subscription to the print.  Recently we received unsolicited
notifications of activation for free w/print (Standard) access for
Blackwell titles.  Included in these notifications is reference to a
license agreement governing standard access:

(http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/help_pages/Blackwell_Publishing_Standard_Access_Agreement.pdf),

of which we were not previously made aware.  Emails from vendors outlining
the 2003 Blackwell price model and their price list
(http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/cservices/pricelist.pdf) made no
reference to there being a separate license agreement for Standard access.

We compared the Standard license to the Premium license (which took us two
years to negotiate) and found some significant differences, more than just
archival access.  We sent a general request to Blackwell asking for
clarification of the differences between the two licenses as our
impression was that the main difference between the two was content and
archival access, with a lingering question about remote access.

We had seen reference to "No Remote Access" in e-mails from vendors about
the 2003 price model but no further explanation was provided on how this
would be implemented by Blackwell, especially for institutions as ours
where we have Premium titles that allow for remote access and Standard
titles that presumably do not have such access.  Do you know how they will
restrict remote access for some, but not all of the Blackwell Publishing
e-journals?

After comparing the Standard terms to the Premium terms we asked why
references to "walk-in" users were removed and were told that "No walk-in
users" were permitted under the Standard license.  This is not acceptable
to any library that allows the public to use their collections.  Have any
of you successfully added in "walk-in users"?

Finally, have any of you managed to add interlibrary loan into the license
-- at the very least ILL through use of a printout from the Blackwll
Publishing web site?  Of course, we would prefer interlibrary loan of the
electronic too.

At the same time that we are working with this license, Blackwell
Publishing is activating access to their e-journals for us even though we
have not reached an agreement.  We find this unacceptable.

This license does not require a signature, but, we are supposed to make
the terms available to our users.  Since it does not require a signature
are the rest of you ignoring the license assuming that it would not stand
in a court of law?

Any advice on how you are approaching this license, would be greatly
appreciated.

Sincerely,

Karl E. Debus-Lopez
Chief Acquisitions Librarian
University of Wisconsin-Madison

Aimee Glassel
Electronic Resources Librarian
University of Wisconsin-Madison

Susan Barribeau
Electronic Resources Coordinator
University of Wisconsin-Madison
-- 

Karl E. Debus-L�pez
Chief Acquisitions Librarian and 
  Head, Acquisitions and Serials Department
Central Technical Services
General Library System
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Room 330N Memorial Library
728 State St.
Madison, Wi 53706-1494

Phone: (608) 262-2619
Fax: (608) 262-4861
E-mail: kdebus@library.wisc.edu