Denise Troll Covey Chair, NISO Planning Committee on Digital Rights Principal Librarian for Special Projects, Carnegie Mellon LITA Standards Interest Group ALA Conference – June 2005 Initiative on Digital Rights Expression

Planning Committees Preliminary committee – draft DR initiative –Kerry Blinco, Dept. of Education, Science & Training, Australia –Michael Carroll, Creative Commons –Karen Coyle, consultant –Pat Harris, NISO –Larry Lessig, Creative Commons –Cliff Morgan, John Wiley & Sons –Oliver Pesch, EBSCO –Steve Potash, Overdrive –Denise Troll Covey, Carnegie Mellon (Chair) –Anthony Ross, Sage –Pat Stevens, OCLC –Bill Ying, ARTstor Workshop planning committee –Liz Bishoff, OCLC –Kerry Blinco, Dept. of Education, Science & Training, Australia –Karen Coyle, consultant –October Ivins, consultant –Cliff Morgan, John Wiley & Sons –Steve Potash, OverDrive –Denise Troll Covey, Carnegie Mellon (Chair) –William Ying, ARTStor

Problem Goal – Provide the most advantageous environment possible for education, research, & scholarship Environment – Enable increased efficiency via technological innovation, but lack of agreement on how to deal with rights impedes progress Challenge – Understand & serve the priorities of both the for-profit & non-profit sectors in an environment that we cannot control, but to which we must respond

Pre-Standards Workshop May 18-19, 2005 – 48 attendees –Invited publishers, aggregators, vendors, developers, lawyers, libraries, archives, museums, e–learning, copyright intermediaries, etc. Goals –Examine requirements, practices, & priorities –Recommend activities to advance interoperability Program –Keynotes, panels, & group activities

Response to Workshop 100% identified opportunities & priorities 100% relevant –Most relevant to content providers 87% program was good or very good 74% exceeded expectations –Slightly more for solution providers 48% response on evaluation

What Was Most Helpful to Whom LibrariesContent providers Solution providers Other 1ERM & copyright metadata E-learning & rights issues for libraries LawLaw & copyright metadata 2Rights issues for libraries & archives LawRights issues for libraries & archives 3E-learningERM & rights issues for museums E-learning 4Law ERM = Electronic Resource Management

Attendees Agreed NISO should not invent a new (competing) rights expression language An acceptable solution will –Not create a situation wherein the only rights allowed are those explicitly granted –Necessarily be a combination of licensing agreements & enforcement technologies –Provide clarity & ambiguity as needed

Roles in the Supply Chain Rights holders Rights grantors Rights mediators Rights users Rights interpreters Rights enforcers Roles have different wants & needs Same entity can play multiple roles Librarians do NOT want the roles of rights interpreters or enforcers

Top Priorities – Weighted Voting 1. Develop rights requirements for content providers, users, libraries, museums, & archives 2. Create a collection of standardized rights “bundles” that could be attached to digital objects 3. Investigate the technical aspects of persistently associating digital objects with their rights 4. Educate users about rights & permitted uses 5. Extend the DLF ERMI activities to include non-licensed content & other library and non–library communities 6. Develop a glossary of terms relating to rights expression

Assessment of Needs A common, well understood vocabulary to facilitate communication Well understood (standard) bundles of rights similar to Creative Commons approach A means of exchanging rights information at point of need throughout the supply chain A new social & economic model in which these can operate

Develop a glossary –Prerequisite to requirements & bundles of rights –(1) Create a concordance of existing vocabularies Write an issues & recommendations paper as prelude to an educational booklet –Educate NISO community & funding agencies –Educating end users is out of scope Maintain relationship with workshop attendees & broaden outreach Initial Next Steps

Work on a high priority, high profile initiative Enhance your vita & your network Contact: Denise Troll Covey, Carnegie Mellon Pat Harris, NISO needs YOU!