From: "Siler, Elizabeth" <[log in to unmask]> Date: Tue, 19 May 2015 17:33:18 +0000 CHARLOTTE – May 19, 2015 - Through a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the UNC Charlotte J. Murrey Atkins Library will investigate how best to license and acquire electronic resources for academic libraries. The $271,000 award is a two-year research and planning grant to produce recommendations for the licensing and acquisition of electronic resources, particularly eBooks. “Academic institutions are moving rapidly from print to electronic books,” said Joan Lorden, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at UNC Charlotte. “UNC Charlotte, with the generous support of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, will explore the impact this shift has on the long-term survival, use, and licensing of eBooks.” The UNC Charlotte-based project team will convene a working group to discuss, define and investigate the impact on academic institutions of three principles for eBook licenses: 1. Unlimited simultaneous users 2. No Digital Rights Management (DRM) either contractual or technological 3. Irrevocable perpetual access and archival rights The working group will be comprised of participants who represent library consortia, publishers, content aggregators, and academic libraries, and will join the UNC Charlotte team to examine these principles throughout the two-year term of the grant. Three research teams will be formed to share their perspectives on the three principles and work together to identify essential characteristics and implications for their institutions. The groups will explore and discuss licensing terms, user experience and the impact of DRM, and classroom and instruction use. In addition, a consultant to the project team will prepare an environmental scan of the eBook market and support its work. In spring 2017, the grant will conclude with a free conference in Charlotte to share the findings of the working group and research teams, and invite further discussion. Final versions of white papers or similar products and the environmental scan will also be released at this time. About the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation: Founded in 1969, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation endeavors to strengthen, promote, and, where necessary, defend the contributions of the humanities and the arts to human flourishing and to the well-being of diverse and democratic societies by supporting exemplary institutions of higher education and culture as they renew and provide access to an invaluable heritage of ambitious, path-breaking work. About Atkins Library: The J. Murrey Atkins Library at UNC Charlotte is a member of the Association of Southeastern Research Libraries (ASERL). Atkins provides access to over 2 million physical and virtual volumes, with rapidly expanding electronic collections of over 400 databases and more than 700,000 eBooks. About UNC Charlotte UNC Charlotte is North Carolina’s urban research university. With fall 2014 enrollment of 27,300 students, the University leverages its location in the state’s largest city to offer internationally competitive programs of research and creative activity, exemplary undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs, and a focused set of community engagement initiatives. ### J. Murrey Atkins Library contact: Elizabeth Siler | 704-687-1372 | [log in to unmask] UNC Charlotte media relations contact: Buffie Stephens | 704-687-5830 | 980-355-3110 | [log in to unmask]