Re: diglib: Fwd: [DIGLIB] licensing

["Faye A Chadwell" <chadwelf@uoregon.edu>]

Once upon a time, Sara, John Helmer, Deb and I sat down to develop some basic principles if you will to guide our contractual agreements.  I think we could do the same for engaging in contracts like the Proquest deal so there is no need to reinvent the wheel.  We have a base to present to every potential vendor that establishes clearly our "deal breakers."  

Faye

On Tue, 09 May 2006 06:47:40 -0700, Carol Hixson <chixson@darkwing.uoregon.edu> wrote:
> It seems we are not the only ones being approached by
> commercial vendors wanting to "partner" with us to digitize
> some of our collections. Perhaps this merits a broader
> discussion on philosophical grounds before we go much
> farther down this road.
> 
> BPL seems to be the Boston Public Library.
> 
> Carol
> 
> 
> >Date: Wed, 3 May 2006 20:39:41 -0400
> >From: "Blake, Tom" <tblake@bpl.org>
> >To: <diglib@infoserv.inist.fr>
> >
> >I have a rather complicated, predictable, and pressing issue that we 
> >are dealing with at our library. As our digital collections are 
> >growing and our budgets are shrinking, there is increasing pressure 
> >to engage in licensing agreements with vendors who might realize the 
> >apparent commercial potential of our digital assets. I once thought 
> >this was a great idea, but as I've worked in the field longer and 
> >thought about it harder, I have become more convinced that the 
> >licensing of intellectual property (public domain, orphaned, and in 
> >copyright) is at best, a contrivance and at worst, outright illegal. 
> >As a public library with a stated mission of offering the broadest 
> >and best possible access to its holdings how can we justify applying 
> >"usage fees" to the dissemination of our images? I understand the 
> >necessity of charging for the discovery, production, and proper 
> >recording and preservation of a requested image, but beyond that -- 
> >I don't see that we would have the right to license usages. I would 
> >rather see our stuff get out there in any and all possible forms 
> >(within the bounds of copyright legality) and thereby watch our 
> >circulation, citations, attendance, and reference requests increase 
> >-- the circulation business model that the publishing industry has 
> >historically relied on for revenue generation.
> >
> >I'm thinking you all might have some fun and interesting comments.
> >
> >Thanks.
> >
> >-Tom Blake
>