RE: Clarification on SERU proposal

["Pennington, Buddy D." <penningtonb@umkc.edu>]

Wouldn't it be possible for publishers who agree with the SERU 
terms and conditions to simply use that for their click-through 
agreements?

Buddy Pennington
Serial Acquisitions Librarian
University of Missouri - Kansas City
University Libraries
www.umkc.edu/lib

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
[mailto:owner-liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu] On Behalf Of Sandy Thatcher
Sent: Thursday, March 22, 2007 5:20 PM
To: liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
Subject: Re: Clarification on SERU proposal

But doesn't this "agreement," whether it takes the form of a 
"written license" or not, still come with "terms and conditions," 
which is what the recent post from the University of Chicago 
Press mentioned. And if one must accept these "terms and 
conditions" through some sort of click-on procedure, isn't that 
still a "license" fully valid in a court of law?  Our officials 
at Penn State frown on such click-on agreements, and we at the 
Press have had to negotiate individually a number of them anyway 
with the vendors offering them.

Sandy Thatcher
Penn State University Press

>Hi Joe,
>
>One of the defining discoveries in this process was to learn that as
>long as there was a written license agreement, it would be normal for
>each state institution to require that their own specific language be
>included, thus precluding any standardized agreement. In part to avoid
>this situation, we sought to develop a true alternative to a license
>agreement - rather than an alternative license agreement. Librarians
>and publishers have noted that often we are comfortable with an implied

>contract just as with a verbal agreement. Where there is general
>consensus, by avoiding the paperwork, we can streamline the process for

>anyone involved. Realistically, in many transactions there isn't a
>potential loss of substantial revenue for the publisher or risk for
>either publisher or library. With new publishers who would not take
>issue with terms supported by librarians, the SERU approach actually
>shortens the sales cycle and eliminates the delay of processing
>paperwork that isn't used.
>
>Further comments are welcome on SERU which is available now in draft
>form with FAQs on the NISO website.
>http://www.niso.org/committees/SERU
>
>Judy Luther MLS, MBA
>www.InformedStrategies.com
>610-645-7546 EDT