Orbis Cascade E-Resource Licensing

Overview

License Action Working Group (LAWG) Charge:

The group’s projects aim to further improve consistency and transparency in Alliance central licensing documentation and processes:

  • Review the existing licensing Best Practices to ensure broad conformity with individual member institution licensing requirements.
  • Enhance consortial values-based criteria within the Best Practices to help guide future negotiations.
  • Consider the consortium’s position and model language for emerging topics in scholarly communication (such as AI).
  • Develop a formal rubric to use in Alliance license review.
  • Formalize consortial licensing process and workflow, particularly in creating relevant documentation as needed.

LAWG runs March 2025-June 2026

Members:

  • Faye Christenberry (UW), Chair
  • Braith Birchhall (WWU)
  • Jesse Holden (Alliance)
  • Emily Miller-Francisco (SOU)
  • Lindsay Tebeck (Whitman)

The E-Content Group (ECG) was a standing group that run from 2019-2023, operating under the auspices of the Alliance Shared Content & Technical Services (SCTS) Team. It was composed of five (5) staff from Alliance member libraries with expertise and interest in e-resource acquisition, licensing, and vendor management. The group also included Program Manager-SCTS and E-Resources Specialist.

Outcomes for this working group included:

  • Review of Alliance-wide licenses for e-resources to ensure alignment with Alliance values and the strategic plan. The ECG will work to draft model license language when appropriate. 
  • Evaluation of internal cost allocations for e-resources on a regular basis to ensure equity across Alliance e-resource subscribers. The ECG will propose new or amended allocation as needed. 
  • Determination of how Open Access (OA) can be incorporated into the Alliance SCTS program. The ECG will consider opportunities to support and promote OA in a consortial context. (Anticipated to start no earlier than Year two of the strategic plan.)

Documents

To codify Alliance licensing best practices, and to provide a guide for consortial and institutional licensing, the ECG created the “Licensing Best Practices” document. The document was approved by the SCTS Team and community in August 2020; minor revisions are made as needed:

In March 2024, the Orbis Cascade Alliance endorsed the ICOLC Statement on AI in Licensing.

  • Jesse Holden (Program Manager for Shared Content) is a member of the ICOLC AI Task Force.

In February 2024, the Orbis Cascade Board of Directors issued a Statement on American Chemical Society Article Development Charges.

In July 2021, the ECG co-presented a session on accessibility with the Accessibility Standing Group (ASG) at the Alliance Summer meeting:

In May 2021, the ECG provided an overview of various Open Access (OA) Acquisitions models to the SCTS community:

COUNTER links:

Links