Unit 4, Part 2: Licensing

After reading Lesley Ellen Harris' s book Licensing Digital Content, I learned lots of practical new things about licensing. She writes in a lovely, easy-to-read style, and I will make sure to keep this book around in case need should arise.

In order to further simplify the book in my mind, I have little set of bullet points...

If I had to negotiate a license/contract/licensing contract (all the same thing) tomorrow I would remember to:

• get a piece of paper and write down what my library needs
• look up my libraries licensing policy, if one exists
• make sure that I am authorized to sign the license
  
• make sure the person who I am licensing from warranties that he/she is authorized to license the content (shocking! I would never think there were rogue licensors running around)
• know who my Authorized Users (sublicensors) will be, and make sure they are clearly included in the contract.
• remember UCITA and make sure my library can't end up in court in Maryland or Virginia (but what if my library is IN Maryland or Virginia?)
  
• know what I am getting-- what the content will be, what form it will take, how long I will get it for, whether it can be archived, and what rights will be granted to that content--view/print/save/share via ILL etc...
• what my library's obligations will be, and not to promise to prevent unauthorized use, because that is really hard
  
• payment, including currency
• what territory will be covered
• renewal vs. termination
• remember to be nice and ask open-ended questions

I do realize, after looking at examples of licenses in class that my list is sadly oversimplified compared to real life, but I need a basic model that fits the big picture into my mind. A diagram would be nice too, but that is a future project.

One more note--this book was written pre-SERU. I wonder if Harris would have mentioned SERU as a license alternative if it had existed when she was writing this book?

*I wanted to use the image of the book cover of Licensing Digital Content. I want to say this falls under fair use, because this blog is a kind of a review of the book. However, after reading some online material about this, I think it is possible that it would be copyright infringement. The Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives suggests that "fair use statutes may not apply to use of digital images in online publications open to the public."

Reference:
Harris, L. E. (2002). Licensing digital content: A practical guide for librarians. Chicago: American Library Association.