From: Sandy Thatcher <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Tue, 18 Mar 2014 19:24:52 -0500

At 6:48 PM -0400 3/18/14, LIBLICENSE wrote:

> terms that provide readers the widest
> possible access to their chosen information resources, while
> supporting the fair use provisions of the US Copyright Act.

What does this mean? Is it a claim that, despite what a contract says,
fair use can still be asserted? On the other hand, if the terms go
beyond what fair use would normally allow, what sense does it make to
say that the license supports fair use?

Sandy Thatcher




> NOTE: We hope to have a draft for comment later this spring.
> Ann Okerson
>
> ********
>
> From: Ann Shumelda Okerson <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Tue, 18 Mar 2014 14:28:47 -0400
>
>> From the Center for Research Libraries - CONNECT Newsletter, March 17, 2014
>
>
> North American Working Group To Revise Model License
> Contact: Ann Okerson - [log in to unmask]
> ________________________________
>
> Libraries today must be strongly proactive in shaping the licenses
> that govern their campuses' electronic information resources. A
> multi-organizational effort is now underway to strengthen libraries'
> negotiating position in the e-resources marketplace.
>
> In 1997, the LIBLICENSE project (then at Yale Library and since 2011
> at the Center for Research Libraries) cleared a path for librarians by
> creating the LIBLICENSE Model License,  license-creation software, and
> an online discussion group to explore the issues around licensing and
> scholarly communication. The Model License was last updated in 2008,
> and while the companion software has grown less functional as
> operating systems change, the discussion group remains lively and
> collegial, signaling the continuing importance of these issues.
>
> Now, with support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, a vigorous
> overhaul of the Model License is in progress under the auspices of the
> Center for Research Libraries. The license, which has been widely used
> and adapted by libraries and consortia in the United States, presents
> a negotiating framework designed to help libraries identify and
> incorporate in their licenses terms that provide readers the widest
> possible access to their chosen information resources, while
> supporting the fair use provisions of the US Copyright Act.
>
> CRL's Advisor on Electronic Strategies, Ann Okerson, who has led the
> project since its inception, has formed a team of distinguished North
> American practitioners and experts, representing key institutional
> partners, who together began the rewrite effort in fall 2013. The
> group includes Ivy Anderson (California Digital Library); Julia
> Blixrud (Association of Research Libraries); Craig Olsvik (Canadian
> Research Knowledge Network); Tracy Thompson (New England Law Library
> Consortium); and Christa Williford (Council on Library and Information
> Resources). Lisa Macklin (Emory University) is the project's legal
> advisor and specialist.
>
> The group will make an initial draft version available for comment by
> late spring 2014, and will work actively to bring the discussion to
> colleagues across the academic community. By summer, the comments will
> be integrated and the new Model License released through the CRL
> website. The software that enables users to build their own agreements
> based on the Model License standard language will also be completely
> rewritten and released later in 2014. The software has proven
> invaluable to librarians involved in licensing, and has served as a
> practical training tool in library and information schools as well.
>
> The development team is excited by the prospect of providing the
> library community with new tools and resources to enable colleagues in
> many institutions to better serve their user communities. CRL is
> indebted to The Mellon Foundation for its support of this project.