From: "Schwartz, Judy" <[log in to unmask]> Date: Tue, 18 Dec 2012 13:58:29 +0000 David - I've opened and read the agreement; we are small enough potatoes to not need this product, but from the wording in the agreement - yes, they are 'selling' or leasing their product to one person only. My sense is they are used to dealing with contractors who have a principal user, and they are NOT used to dealing with large institutions such as yours. If the rep insists on maintaining that other institutions accept their online agreement, ask the rep who these institutions are. If everything is on the 'up and up', surely they would give you a list (said rather with tongue firmly planted in cheek). Doesn't your province have an Engineering department that could give you a better reference? Judy Schwartz Director of Library Services Trocaire College http://library.trocaire.edu -----Original Message----- From: David Macaulay <[log in to unmask]> Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2012 16:08:46 +0000 (With apologies for cross-posting) My institution is looking into licensing certain electronic resources (RS Means Complete Online Library) directly from the publisher. Unfortunately, they refuse to provide an institutional license - rather they point to an online "User Agreement" (https://subscription.rsmeansonline.com/Content/RSMeansOnlineUserAgreement.pdf) designed for individual users, containing statements such as "You agree not to share your login and password for this Web site with any other individual", which effectively forbids us from providing access to our authorized users (access is password-based). Like many publisher licenses I have been seeing recently, it also contains rather aggressive indemnification clauses to which we cannot agree. I am interested to know whether any other institution has been able to negotiate with RS Means to develop an adequate institutional agreement - or indeed, how they proceed with any vendor that relies solely on restrictive user agreements designed for individual users. The RS Means rep maintains that other institutions do accept their online user agreement, but I am not convinced. Thanks for responding on- or off-list if you have any relevant experience you want to share. David Macaulay Electronic Resources Librarian Librarian for Geography, Planning & Environment Concordia University Libraries Montreal QC H3G 1M8 [log in to unmask]