What is CARE ?  At the end of 2005 CRUI (Conference of Rectors of Italian Universities) assembly approved a 3 year project called CARE  CARE (Coordinamento per l’accesso alle risorse elettroniche) is a coordination group based on the experience of the 3 italian consortia to allow access to electronic resources

Board composition  12 members  1 representative for each consortia  2 representatives for each consortia users organisation  3 people designated by CRUI (Conference of Rectors of Italian Universities). The Care President is chosen from among them

Main objectives Care was created to find a solution to two important needs of academic institutions  Buying electronic research and knowledge tools  Developing common initiatives for the universities, saving money by obtaining the best conditions from the publishers

Activities 1 In order to achieve its goals Care considers the following activities important  Improving access and e-resources related services at national level  Promoting national deals  Negotiating best license clauses  Devising cost sharing models, proposing business models  Optimizing activities management concerning negotiations, acquisitions and agreements, thereby reducing the costs for institutions

Activities 2  Spreading information avoiding duplication, developing at the same time speed, degree and quality of knowledge  Acting on government VAT issues or other issues penalizing e- resources and their dissemination  Promoting national solutions for long term digital preservation  Maintaining contacts with national and international organisations acting in this area

Working groups and communication CARE’s activities require working groups and the maximization of internal and external communication  Working groups based on member’s competences focused on common issues  Negotiation groups (direct or indirect negotiation of agreements)  Secretary’s office

Working groups and communication Working groups Examples of working groups on common issues based on member’s competences  Downloads and subscriptions data harvesting working group This group collects and organizes the data regarding statistics on e-resources use. The aim is to improve knowledge about real situation and university collection growth policies  Contracts analysis working group This group evaluates foreign contracts. The goal is to identify the most fitting contract models  Care’s website planning and developing working group The objective is to develop a site useful for CARE’s members (data and information storage) and able to provide information about institutions documentation, best practices, studies for best e-resources accessing and managing as well

Working groups and communication Negotiation groups  Different teams are in charge to negotiate directly with each publisher, reporting to the steering group during meetings or through related discussion lists  In the case of the Elsevier agreement we have chosen to rely on an external negotiator (Content Complete and a local consultant). The Italian mediator has been useful to keep CC up to date and aware about the situation in Italy

CARE Results Negotiations Closed deals  Elsevier (first italian national deal, through external negotiators)  Springer (in house negotiators)  Portico (in house negotiators) Newly started negotiations  Blackwell-Wiley (in house negotiators)

CARE results Non contractual activities Producing documents like:  E-resources financial and accounting treatment recommendations  Portico and Lockss digital preservation systems analyses and reports and  Lobbying activities for e-resources VAT reduction

Other CARE’s activities CARE has outlined other high priority activities  Evaluation of the most recent EU norms concerning e- resources acquisition procedures  Suggesting guidelines to interpret the VAT norms concerning non EU acquisitions  Preparing a document on licensing principles