About the Liblicense-L Discussion Forum

LIBLICENSE-L began in January 1997 as a moderated list for the discussion of issues related to the licensing of digital information by academic and research libraries.  Increasingly, libraries are being inundated with information created in digital format and transmitted and accessed via computers.  This list was designed to assist librarians and others concerned with the licensing of and access to information in digital format, i.e., in dealing with some of the unique challenges faced by this medium.  Information providers (creators, publishers and vendors, and many other players) who deal with libraries are welcomed as members of liblicense-l.  From 1997 to today, the list has expanded its range into topics beyond licensing, topics central to the creation, publication, distribution, and economics of scholarly electronic information.  Topics under consideration now include:

• Library and educational license agreements for digital information content, ensuring that these advance, as far as possible, the use of digital information

• Relationship of electronic information access to provisions of theU.S.Copyright Act and other international agreements.

• Other key issues relating to use of electronic information, such as privacy and security, interlibrary loans, pricing models, usage, broadening access (particularly to nations in transition), consortial access, and more.

• Sustainability of current information distribution modes and prices, including studies.

• Current developments in the above-mentioned areas, through new initiatives, experiments, news accounts, press releases, and announcements pertaining to these electronic scholarly publications topics are also appropriate.

We welcome your contributions and discussion.

The list moderator is Ann Okerson, Special Advisor to CRL for Electronic Resources. All messages will automatically be sent to the Moderator for vetting for the list.

 

Last updated: May 4, 2012