1 Back to the Future: the SERU Approach ICOLC Montreal, April, 2007 Chris Martire, PALINET NISO SERU Working Group

2 What SERU Is Mutual understanding Libraries and publishers forego a license agreement and rely on a Shared E- Resources Understanding (SERU)  Reduces processing costs  Removes barriers for smaller publishers

3 What SERU Is Not Standard license agreement License agreements are contracts that require terms unique to each locale precluding a streamlined process.  Not intended to replace or eliminate all license agreements.  Not a license and is not customizable.

4 Exploratory Conversations Discussion Forums held at  Charleston – Fall 2005  ALA Midwinter 2006  ERL 1 st conference, March 2006  ALA Summer, June 2006 Result  Growing list of interested librarians and publishers

5 What We Learned Librarians  Often had a backlog of licenses  Some noted that a few publishers didn’t have license agreements Publishers  Most believe librarians needed licenses  Face increased costs to handle paperwork

6 Developmental Process Engaging Organizational Support Legal consultation Representative group met in DC, Oct 2006 Created preliminary draft NISO adopted Working Group Dec 2006 ALA Midwinter meetings with stakeholders SERU Draft – Issued Mar 2007

7 Supporting Organizations Librarians  ARL - Association of Research Libraries  SPARC – Scholarly Publishing & Academic Resources Coalition Publishers  ALPSP – Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers  SSP – Society for Scholarly Publishing

8 Working Group Members Ivy Anderson - California Digital Library Linda Beebe - American Psychological Association Fiona Bennett - Oxford University Press Clinton Chamberlain - Trinity University Deborah Gerhardt - University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Libraries Karla Hahn - Association of Research Libraries (Co-Chair) Heather Joseph - Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition Selden Lamoureux - University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Libraries Judy Luther - Informed Strategies (Co-Chair) Christine Martire - PALINET Robert Oakley - Georgetown University Law Center Oliver Pesch - EBSCO Information Services Zachary Rolnik - Now Publishers, Inc. Kimberly Steinle - Duke University Press

9 Topics in Shared Understanding Subscriptions and subscribers Appropriate and inappropriate use Confidentiality and privacy Online performance and service Archival access and perpetual rights

10 Without a License Agreement Omit Contract Terms Jurisdiction Warranties Liabilities Force majeure Assignment Severability Purchase Order Terms What content For what price For what period How many (for whom)

11 How It Works Forego license and rely on shared understanding Purchase Order is acquisitions vehicle Orders placed through vendors such as serials agents or consortia SERU posted on NISO website NISO Registry for publishers & libraries

12 Feedback so far…. “I’d like to start by saying how much I appreciate and applaud this innovative approach, and the very well-written and clear document. This is a welcome and significant effort to make needed change.” Suggestions for clarification on: archiving and perpetual access; inappropriate use; applicability for databases Discussion on Liblicense – legal questions, implied contract, click-throughs, etc.

13 Can it work for Consortia? Group Purchase – Yes, extend SERU to individual members of the group Central purchase – Maybe, if purchase documents can refer to individual Subscribers Big Deal – Probably not, given multi-year and commitment levels as well as nature of publishers involved in Big Deals.

14 Next Steps Working Group meeting next week to review feedback Continue to discuss SERU at various conferences and meetings