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Further considerations: licencing and archiving

Licensing: Use SERU Where Possible

While some institutions will require specific licenses, using the Shared E-Resource Understanding (SERU) eliminates much legal wrangling and overhead around licensing while working in a good faith capacity.


As the NISO document on SERU describes itself:


"SERU embodies a desire by publishers and libraries for a cooperative and collaborative relationship that recognizes that the provision of timely, high-quality materials and their protection is in the mutual interests of all parties.


SERU offers providers (such as publishers) and acquiring institutions (such as libraries) the opportunity to save both the time and the costs associated with a negotiated and signed license agreement by agreeing to operate within a framework of shared understanding and good faith. The statements below provide a set of common understandings for providers and acquiring institutions to reference as an alternative to a formal license when conducting business.


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Neither the statements of understanding nor this document constitute a license agreement. Because SERU is not a license, legal terms (such as jurisdiction, warranties, and liabilities) are not used. Rather, the SERU statements describe a set of commonly agreed-upon expectations for using and providing electronic resources. While licenses are appropriate in many situations, SERU offers an alternative when both the acquiring institution and the provider are satisfied with this approach (see NISO SERU Standing Committee, ‘NISO RP-7-2012, SERU: A Shared Electronic Resource Understanding’, 2012).

In cases where a formal license is required, the Press must take its own legal advice as to the suitability of any particular clause. However, we recommend that any license provides the following clauses:


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  • Term access for the first three years;


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  • Perpetual access after three years’ of subscription;


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  • An open-access, Creative Commons license for front-list open-access content released under the scheme.

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Digital Preservation and Perpetual Access 

Depending on the specific delivery platform, it may be appropriate to deposit books in third-party platforms, held in trust in case of future Press insolvency. ‘Perpetual access’ as promised by this programme should also mean perpetual access beyond the lifespan of a press. By using robust, third-party digital preservation systems, presses can provide a higher level of guaranteed availability to libraries.

Delivery of OA Content Funded by OtF

 

It is imperative that the selection process for open-access books be transparent and trustworthy. Libraries fear that publishers will select books for the open-access route that they believe will not sell, thereby implicitly devaluing open access.


We recommend that Opening the Future presses adopt a strict chronological hierarchy for the selection of the next open-access monograph. In other words, at the moment when sufficient funds have accumulated to make another book open access, the book that is next scheduled for publication in the current production schedule, but which hasn’t yet been announced as OA vs. non-OA should be the chosen volume. 

As more members join, frontlist books can gradually be published OA

Fie 3 from the OtF report for infohub.png

If multiple books are on the same production schedule, the Press has latitude to select which book will be OA, but we would urge transparency around this process and for the Press to issue a justificatory statement of the title’s worth in such instances.


All new frontlist titles therefore could be first planned as traditionally-sold ‘closed’ books and as soon as the press has accrued enough library support to fund a book, the metadata should be changed before any sales are made. The distributors should then move the book to an OA status. This should happen well before the book is published.


This process, in which titles are selected prior to being sent to any third-party intermediaries, means that there is a long lead time for Opening the Future presses, before a book is made OA. However, by doing so, we completely avoid any allegations of double dipping through the provision of misleading data about title availability.

 

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