This booklet and accompanying Google Drive document summarize 11 key principles and suggested licensing language to assist ASERL libraries and others in securing better terms for content and services they license. Published under a Creative Commons Non-Commercial License, the Google Drive document allows users to easily copy/paste the suggested license language as part of negotiations with service providers.
“ASERL is not a buying club, per se,” commented Tim Pyatt, Dean of ZSR Library at Wake Forest University and President of ASERL’s Board of Directors. “Nonetheless, our members invest huge amounts of time and resources into library content and service licensing. Having ‘The ASERL Eleven’ gives ASERL librarians clear principles to guide their work and helps to forge consensus on key issues in our relationships with publishers and other vendors.”
“We are hardly the first and won’t be the last voice to weigh in on these important matters,” commented Christopher Cox, ASERL’s incoming President and Dean of Libraries at Clemson University. “Licensing is an evolving topic; we see this new publication as ‘Version 1.0’ and expect to receive feedback and suggestions for future revisions and improvements.”