Re: Scanning licenses

["Sally Morris \(ALPSP\)" <sally.morris@alpsp.org>]

I wonder whether readers of this list are aware of the project 
'ONIX for licensing terms' which might make mere scanning of 
licences unnecessary, by instead expressing in machine-readable 
terms (rather, if you like, in the way that Creative Commons does 
for its user licences) the terms and conditions of customer 
licences for e-journals and other publications.  See 
http://www.editeur.org/onix_licensing.html for more details

Sally Morris, Chief Executive
Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers
South House, The Street, Clapham, Worthing, West Sussex BN13 3UU, UK
Email:  sally.morris@alpsp.org

----- Original Message -----
From: "Curtis Lavery" <laveryc@sbcglobal.net>
To: <liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, May 10, 2006 12:31 AM
Subject: Re: Scanning licenses

> Hi Julie,
>
> The California Digital Library has been scanning licenses for 
> more than 2 years.  Our purpose was twofold: to provide a 
> document for those who need to view and understand its 
> contents; and to digitize a fully executed document for 
> archiving in a secure, remote location.  We also maintain a 
> locked archive of original print licenses for internal 
> reference needs and auditors.  In addition to a scanned version 
> of the full document, we also redact the license for personal 
> and cost information and scan it for reference by campus users.
>
> We have not normally ocr'ed any of these documents.  At present 
> we maintain a relational database that gives us some 
> information upon inquiry about license terms and contacts. 
> Over the course of the next year we hope to have initiated our 
> ERM, which will replace and enhance our home-grown file. 
> Since license provisions are narrative and typically need 
> interpretation, I feel that indexing beyond what we can obtain 
> from acrobat doesn't merit our effort.
>
> Our biggest problem when we began was locating license 
> originals for scanning and filing in a locked archive. 
> Different categories of documents had been stored in different 
> locations. We used a simple excel file to note and track the 
> status of each expected license.
>
> We also scan and archive our other contractual documents, 
> breach allegation documentation, and requests we receive for 
> public records.
>
> If you have any specific questions, please contact me at
> curtis.lavery@ucop.edu.
>
> With best wishes,
> Curtis Lavery
> California Digital Library
>
> _______________________________
>
> Julie Blake <jblake11@jhuadig.admin.jhu.edu> wrote:
>
> (Apologies for duplication).
>
> We're interested in scanning licenses so they're available for
> various constituencies and searchable (OCR?) as well. We do not
> yet have an ERM, but would like to get started anyway. We know
> there have got to be others that are way ahead of us in this
> game, so I'm throwing myself upon your tender mercies. Who's
> doing this? How? Thoughts, ideas, warnings? Anyone have an open
> source solution for organizing or scanning?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Julie C. Blake
> Serials & Electronic Resources Acquisitions Coordinator
> Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University
> julie.blake@jhu.edu