From: Ann Shumelda Okerson <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Mon, 21 Sep 2015 18:03:55 -0400

Denise -- it does seem as if ProQuest may be an outlier in its TDM
pricing for archival resources.  That is a real setback for educational
and research purposes.

Ann Okerson/CRL


On Sun, Sep 20, 2015 at 7:45 PM, LIBLICENSE <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> From: Denise Troll Covey <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Sat, 19 Sep 2015 13:32:31 +0000
>
> Ivy,
>
> I'm aware of and grateful for the language about TDM in the model license.
> My problem is that the sentence pertinent to my post about pricing is not
> particularly helpful:
>
> “If Licensee or Authorized Users request the Licensor to deliver or
> otherwise prepare copies of the Licensed Materials for text and data
mining
> purposes, any fees charged by Licensor shall be solely for preparing and
> delivering such copies on a time and materials basis.”
>
> As I interpret this sentence, all a publisher needs to do – as ProQuest
did
> in follow-up discussion – is say the fees are solely for cost recovery.
>
> When publishers calculate prices based on “cost recovery,” how many
> customers is the cost spread across?  I suspect they would have
> significantly more customers for TDM if the cost were significantly lower.
> A key point for libraries in assessing affordability is the number of
people
> likely to exercise the TDM rights.  Unlike the cost of licensing a
database
> that will be used by hundreds if not thousands of people, at present TDM
> rights are likely to be exercised by a very small group. Libraries cannot
> afford to spend $$$$$ to purchase content for one researcher or a handful
of
> researchers. The well would quickly run dry.  I doubt whether researchers
> will be willing to – or permitted to – use grant $$$$$ to purchase content
> for text and data mining.
>
> And do we really think prices will plummet after commercial
> publishers/vendors recoup their investment in generating XML files and
> posting them to the cloud or a server from which they can produce hard
drive
> copies?  The ongoing cost for maintaining these files will be
significantly
> lower than the one-time set-up costs, but I doubt that prices will
plummet.
> I can imagine shareholders frowning at the prospect and publishers
claiming
> that maintaining and upgrading the infrastructure, functionality, format
> etc. necessitate the high ongoing costs.
>
> I think publishers are trying to figure out what the market will bear.
From
> my perspective, the price is unbearable.
>
> Denise
>
> Denise Troll Covey
> Scholarly Communications Librarian
> Carnegie Mellon University
> 4909 Frew St, Hunt Library
> Pittsburgh, PA 15213
>
> http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8040-822X
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ivy Anderson <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Wed, 16 Sep 2015 00:48:16 +0000
>
> Denise,
>
> The language in the new model Liblicense agreement addresses both TDM
rights
> and potential costs.  It reads:
>
> Text and Data Mining. Authorized Users may use the Licensed Materials to
> perform and engage in text and/or data mining activities for academic
> research, scholarship, and other educational purposes, utilize and share
the
> results of text and/or data mining in their scholarly work, and make the
> results available for use by others, so long as the purpose is not to
create
> a product for use by third parties that would substitute for the Licensed
> Materials. Licensor will cooperate with Licensee and Authorized Users as
> reasonably necessary in making the Licensed Materials available in a
manner
> and form most useful to the Authorized User.  If Licensee or Authorized
> Users request the Licensor to deliver or otherwise prepare copies of the
> Licensed Materials for text and data mining purposes, any fees charged by
> Licensor shall be solely for preparing and delivering such copies on a
time
> and materials basis.
>
>
> CDL hasn't attempted to negotiate this with ProQuest, but this is the
basis
> on which I would seek to negotiate -
>
> Best,
>
> Ivy Anderson
> Director of Collections
> California Digital Library
> University of California, Office of the President
> [log in to unmask]  |  http://cdlib.org
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
>
> From: Denise Troll Covey <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Tue, 15 Sep 2015 11:24:22 +0000
>
> All,
>
> We recently inquired and received ProQuest’s “Content Delivery & Access
> Price Sheet” for TDM. The spreadsheet includes pricing and delivery
methods
> for Historical Newspapers, Official Government Documents, History Vault,
and
> Historical Periodicals.  The prices vary depending on the delivery method
–
> significantly lower for delivery from the cloud than delivery via hard
> drive, but most of the material is not available for delivery form the
> cloud.  And the prices are outrageous, especially when you consider that
> much of the content is out of copyright and TDM is likely fair use of the
> content that is copyright protected.  We suspect that library licensing
fees
> covered ProQuest’s financial investment in scanning/OCRing this material,
so
> why the exorbitant cost to enable TDM?
>
> Has anyone tried to negotiate with ProQuest to arrive at affordable TDM?
>
> Denise
>
> Denise Troll Covey
> Scholarly Communications Librarian
> Carnegie Mellon University
> Pittsburgh, PA 15213
> http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8040-822X