Re: How do your libraries handle end-user agreements?

["Joan Stein" <joan@andrew.cmu.edu>]

Hello Rebecca,

If the end-user agreement is optional, my instinct would be to 
skip it and not offer it to end-users (unless there is some very 
special feature that they would be missing out on and even then 
I'd have to give it serious thought).  In addition, our 
university legal counsel must review all contracts, including 
terms of use agreements for e-resources and I think the idea of 
any number of end-user agreements that by-pass their oversight 
would give them pause.  I'd be especially concerned if the 
end-user terms of use could potentially lead to end-user charges. 
Is this all about providing customized functionality for 
end-users or does the vendor benefit from these agreements?  I 
know what my guess would be.

Regards, Joan

Joan Stein, Principal Librarian
Head, Access Services
Carnegie Mellon University Libraries
Hunt Library
Pittsburgh, PA  15213


On Wed, March 17, 2010 9:07 pm, Rebecca Kemp wrote:

> We have come up against a situation here where there is a 
> combination of an institutional license, which we can modify, 
> and an optional end-user agreement (terms of use) to which 
> users will have to agree if they want to use added 
> functionality of the resource in question. Because these terms 
> of use are on the vendor's website, it's unlikely that we'd be 
> able to modify them.
>
> I understand that we, the library, are not bound by the end 
> user agreement.  However, I don't like passing on the 
> responsibility of looking at an agreement to our end users.
>
> List members, how do you handle situations such as this?  Do 
> you have policies regarding resources that may require end 
> users to enter into an agreement?
>
> Many thanks for considering,
> Rebecca
>
> Rebecca Kemp
> E-Resources Acquisitions Librarian
> UNC-Chapel Hill
> Chapel Hill, NC 27514-8890
> rkemp<at>email<dot>unc<dot>edu