Negotiating Your License

Abstract

To obtain access to electronic resources, libraries must enter into contractually binding license agreements with vendors. Since libraries spend an ever-increasing amount of money every year on resources, it is incumbent upon librarians to develop carefully prepared procedural guidelines for use in the negotiation of licenses. The guidelines will help ensure that all major issues are addressed in the license, thus offering the library and the university maximum protection and flexibility. This paper describes a procedural framework developed by the University of South Alabama Biomedical Library to be used when negotiating licenses with vendors of electronic materials.