Licensing Digital Content

This "workshop" session was designed to teach us how to read licenses for digital content, and to understand the subtleties therein. We were given copies (or parts thereof) of a few different licenses, including an Access Copyright Repographic License, an Access Copyright Transactional License, and a few licenses for access to specific vendors' digital collections. Here are a few key points from this session:

• Prior to signing a license, individuals have statutory rights allowing them reprographic rights in certain situations. We should be careful not to sign away such rights for our users when signing onto a license.
• The AC Reprographic License allows for digital copies, but only if they are destroyed following the transfer.
• The OCUL license with Emerald allows for a local load of the content (this is unusual).
• Before signing a license with a U.S. vendor, make sure that they are authorized to sell those rights in Canada.