Presented at the 2015 Charleston Conference by Christina Geuther, Electronic Resources Librarian, Kansas State University, and Mira Greene, Head, Content Development & Acquisitions, Kansas State University.

1. Creating a Standard of Practice
for License Alternatives
Christina Geuther
Electronic Resources Librarian, Kansas State University
Mira Greene
Head of Content Development and Acquisitions, Kansas State University

2. Licenses and their Alternatives in
Life Cycle of Electronic Resources
Acquire
Provide
Access
Administer
Support
Evaluate
Renew
Establish agreement
between vendor and library
Life cycle modified from:
Pesch, O. (2008). “Library standards and E-
resource management: A survey of current
initiatives and standard efforts.” Serials
Librarian 55, 3: 482.

3. Conventional Negotiation Process for Licensing
Licensor representative or
their website provides a
standard license or
amendment appropriate to
the electronic resource
Licensee reviews the
terms and requests
modifications of terms
and/or supplies possible
addendums
Licensor reviews the new
language and provides
feedback with a modified
document if Licensee
requests are accepted
Licensee reviews modified
license/amendment again
and decides whether to
sign

4. Process of Acceptance for License Alternatives
Licensor representative or
their website provides
terms of use for the
electronic resource
Licensee reviews the
terms and decides
whether to accept
• Unlike the conventions of licensing, alternatives do not include negotiations to
their agreement.
• Terms of Use that are posted on a website are also subject to change, suggesting
that they should be captured by the library at the time of acceptance/agreement.
• A suggested option is that terms may be provided by a Shared E-Resource
Understanding registry.

5. Shared E-Resource Understanding

6. Concerns for Documentation of Agreements
• Interlibrary Loan
Services
• Possible Future
Cancellation
• Archiving/Perpetual
Access
• Authorized Users
• Terms of Use

7. Setting: Kansas State University Libraries
• Land grant institution
founded in 1863
• Campuses in Olathe, Salina,
and Manhattan, Kansas
• 2014 FTE was 21,581
• $5.8 million budget for
electronic resources
• Migrated in July 2015 from
Ex Libris Verde and Voyager
to Alma
• Full license records in Verde
since 2007 and currently in
cleanup process in Alma
"Hale Exterior". Licensed under CC BY 3.0 via Wikipedia -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hale_Exterior.jpg#/media/File:Hale_Exterior.jpg

8. K-State Work Distribution for E-Resources
• Head, Content Development & Acquisitions
– Approves purchases and renewals while overseeing department
• Content Development Librarians
– Review e-resources, analytics, vendor profiles
• Continuing Resources Librarian
– Oversees Library Assistants for processing invoices, activating & linking new
portfolios/collections
– Co-administers e-resources modules
• Electronic Resources Librarian
– Documents licenses and license alternatives for e-resources
– Co-administers e-resources modules
• Electronic Resources Access Specialist
– Administers link resolver and collects usage statistics
• Interlibrary Loan Services
– View license terms and process interlibrary loans incoming and outgoing

9. License Alternatives Documented in Verde
• Three predecessors with
some inconsistencies
– Written procedure only
developed for licenses
• Same treatment as
license with regard to
filling out options for all
terms and attaching
documentation file
• Name field marked with
“TOU”, "no license", or
“SERU” after product

10. Move to Alma
• License Codes
– Modified from U of
Minnesota Libraries policy
• Organizational
Information
• Controlled Vocabulary?
– Need for Word Doc
template
• One SERU record for all
applicable e-resources
• Making terms of use and
ILL visible from Alma to
Primo

11. Timeline with Migration and Data Cleanup
June 2014 to
June 2015
• Review and data cleanup in Verde in preparation of migration.
June 30 2015
• Technical freeze. Stop work in Verde.
July 15 2015
• Fix migration errors of license module found during training and testing period.
July 20 2015
• Go live with Alma.
September
2015
• Stop on licensing due to other migration errors in Admin module.
October 2015
• Migration team negotiating longer access to Verde. Proceed with licensing in
Alma.

12. License Alternative Workflow
Contact vendor
for most recent
Terms of Use
and to ensure
there is not a
license that can
be negotiated
Consider Terms of
Use and whether
the needs of the
Library will be met
Register for SERU
when applicable
Documentation of
Terms of Use & File
Management
Interpret SERU or
Terms of Use Upon
Staff Request

13. 1. Contact vendor for most recent Terms of Use
and to ensure there is not a license that can be
negotiated
Contact vendor for
license/alternative
If vendor cannot
sign a license,
make sure it does
not require State
of Kansas DA 146A
Ask vendor if they
are in the SERU
Registry

14. 2. Consider Terms of Use and whether the
needs of the Library will be met
Review terms
of agreement
Contact vendor
and document
areas needing
clarification
Apply the same
checklist and
red flags as
licenses

15. 3. Register for SERU when applicable
Confirm use of
SERU
Check registry (K-
State is already
listed)
Link SERU license
record to
appropriate
electronic
resource in
ERM/URM

16. 4. Documentation of Terms of Use & File Management
Use Word
document to first
write down all of
the ERM/URM
licensing interface
values and
corresponding
terms of
agreement
information
Reread Word
document against
SERU/TOU
Copy information
over to license
form Description
and Terms tabs
Attach copy of
terms of
agreement to the
form
Maintain any
clarification emails
in W: Drive
licensing folder

17.  Public Services refers a patron
who wants to use an electronic
resource in a manner that may
be reflected in terms of use
 Fair Use implications are unclear
 The management system license
interface does not have enough
information to answer a
question
Most Common Reasons to
Interpret Licensing
Alternatives for Staff
5. Interpret SERU or Terms of Use Upon Staff Request

18. ERL makes an informed
suggestion based on
materials at hand
ERL looks through
documented emails in W:
drive Licensing folder and
most current agreement to
identify whether Staff
terms of use question has
an established answer
Staff contacts Electronic
Resource Librarian (ERL) to
interpret terms of
agreement
Contact between ERL and Staff
Unclear
ERL becomes main contact for
communication over the matter with
the vendor licensing representative
The issue is treated in the best
interest of the university, whether
reading gray area at an advantage or
deciding to be conservative based on
most practices (such as avoiding
systematic downloading)
Yes
ERL cites the terms of agreement
documentation, reading the possible
confidentiality clause first whether
to actually include wording in an
email exchange

19. The Effect on Interlibrary Services
• In July 2015, we
configured licensing
module to place
interlibrary loan concerns
at the uppermost portion
of the interface
• SERU and TOU given
same treatment as
licenses
• Consistent workflow for
Interlibrary Services staff
dealing with all terms of
agreement
K-State University Libraries Interlibrary Services led by Janice Barrons, left