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ninch-announce: Licensing Workshop; NFAIS "Rights and Responsibilities"

ninch-announce: Licensing Workshop; NFAIS "Rights & Responsibilities"

Licensing Workshop; NFAIS "Rights & Responsibilities"

David Green (david@ninch.org)
Tue, 9 Dec 1997 15:20:40 -0500 

Message-Id: <v02130519b0b320273d91@[192.100.21.23]>
Date: Tue, 9 Dec 1997 15:20:40 -0500
To: ninch-announce@cni.org
From: david@ninch.org (David Green)
Subject: Licensing Workshop; NFAIS "Rights & Responsibilities"


NINCH ANNOUNCEMENT
December 9, 1997


Two separate copyright announcements:

1.  A White Paper from the National Federation of Abstracting &
Information Services on "The Rights & Responsibilities of Content
Creators, Providors and Users."  This association of database producers
has drafted this white paper not in specific reaction to the European
Database Directive but in the context of that directive and current US
copyright and database protection legislation. 

Comments are invited.


2. A UK Workshop on Digital Licensing Models between Libraries & Publishers.

This, interestingly, cites a model licence between UK Universities and
Publishers recently proposed by a Joint Information Systems
Committee/Publishers Association (JISC/PA) working group as well as a
report on copyright clearance and digitisation in UK Higher Education
for a JISC/PA Working Party on Clearance Mechanisms.  See
<http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/services/elib/papers/pa/> for information on
these JISC/PA Working Group papers and reports. 

David Green

**************************

1.   THE RIGHTS & RESPONSIBILITIES OF CONTENT CREATORS, PROVIDERS, AND USERS
            National Federation of Abstracting & Information Services
                                 A White Paper
                               December 9, 1997
                 <http://www.pa.utulsa.edu/nfais/whitepaper.html>


Introduction

Though the electronic dissemination of scholarly information --
encouraged by rapidly developing networking technology -- offers great
promise, it has also created a great challenge for authors, publishers,
and users of scientific, technical, medical and other research-based
information.  The difficulties are demonstrated by recent, and often
abortive, efforts of legislative bodies, international agencies, and
various groups to agree to a set of rules that should govern the use and
reuse of scholarly information in an electronic environment. 

Most groups today agree that the challenge is inherently one of
balancing the rights of those who have invested in making scholarly
content available in a useful form with the rights of those who need to
make use of the content.  It is only by resolving the conflicts that
have arisen between creators and users that we will be able to, as a
society, develop sound rules for electronic information use and reuse. 

The National Federation of Abstracting & Information Services (NFAIS) is
an organization of approximately 60 of the world's leading producers of
both printed reference works and databases of electronic information in
the sciences and the arts.  NFAIS has been involved in the electronic
distribution of information since the deployment of mainframe commercial
computers in the 1960s.  NFAIS continuously monitors worldwide
technological developments that could have an impact on authors,
publishers, distributors, and users of information, and therefore has
taken a great interest in the recent debates, proposed legislation,
treaty talks, and other initiatives regarding the development of a legal
infrastructure that supports the exchange of electronic information. 

We as database producers maintain that: databases require large
investments of time, money, and intellectual effort to produce and keep
updated; they are increasingly vulnerable to copying; existing law is
inadequate to protect them; and legislation can be crafted so as to
provide legal protection without harming legitimate interests of users. 


This White Paper was developed over a three-year period by the NFAIS
Information Policy & Copyright Committee (Bonnie Lawlor and Jim Walsh,
Co-Chairs) and Dick Kaser, NFAIS Executive Director.  It was approved
for distribution by the NFAIS Board of Directors in November 1997. 
Readers are encouraged to freely distribute copies of this White Paper
to others. 

NFAIS agrees with the findings of the U.S.  Copyright Office in August
1997, that the basic principles are these

* Databases are vulnerable to copying, and adequate incentives are needed
  to ensure their continued creation;

* Individual facts should not be subject to private ownership;

* Anyone should be free to obtain facts independently from original
  sources, even after they have been incorporated into a database;

* U.S. government databases should not be protected;

* It is important not to harm science, research, education, and news
  reporting;

* "Free riding" in the form of substantial copying for commercial,
  competitive purposes should not be permitted.

We are aware that there is a debate among various segments of the
community.  Therefore, in the spirit of promoting the development of a
consensus on the issues related to electronic commerce and scholarly
research, NFAIS offers this white paper on the subject of the rights and
responsibilities of information creators, information providers, and
information users, in general.  It is our suggestion that these basic
rights and responsibilities transcend the medium of expression or
transmission and apply equally to traditional media as well as new
electronic channels. 

It is our hope that by calling to public attention these basic issues
that affect the use and reuse of information in general that we might be
able to reach consensus on the larger issues that affect electronic
information use and reuse in particular. 

For this reason, we invite open debate and public comment on this
document. 

See <http://www.pa.utulsa.edu/nfais/whitepaper.html> for Rights &
Responsibilities of Authors,Publishers, Distributors and Users

Please send your comments to:

The National Federation of Abstracting & Information Services (NFAIS)
1518 Walnut St., Suite 307
Philadelphia, PA 19102 U.S.A.
: 215/893-1564
Phone: 215/893-1561
e-mail: nfais@nfais.org

**************************

2.  The OPEN UNIVERSITY Library, Project Edbank - part of the eLib
programme and the OU Rights Department in association with SCONUL prsent:


                NEGOTIATING ELECTRONIC COPYRIGHT PERMISSIONS:
            exploring the issues and considering the alternatives

                          Tuesday January 20th 1998
                        Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, UK
               Price: #80.00 to include lunch and refreshments


The objectives for this day are to:
* identify the issues for institutions seeking to create electronic
  resources in the context of the legislative environment and
  organisational needs

* examine alternative approaches with case studies from other 
  industries/sectors

* highlight the importance of developing an institutional process 
  for licence negotiation, administration and review

* foster an understanding of copyright as a working tool involving 
  commercial transactions

* engage participants in a review of licence terms and conditions

Intended audience:
* policy makers at institutions reviewing the implications of the
  electronic library

* librarians and other institutional staff engaged in the process of
  negotiating copyright permissions for electronic resources

Numbers will be limited

BACKGROUND TO THE DAY

The advent of the electronic library and an increasing demand for
services delivered to the "desktop" has been accompanied by a need to
approach publishers and other rights owners for permission to create
electronic resources.  This applies equally to journal contents pages
(for current awareness), whole journal articles, images, illustrative
materials, books and book chapters, newspaper articles and out of print
materials. 

Publishers are trying to meet these new demands from libraries while
maintaining the financial viability of their activities for the future. 

The model licence between UK Universities and Publishers recently
proposed by a JISC/PA Working Party is an attempt to improve mutual
understanding of copyright issues and produce workable solutions to
satisfy both publishers and university requirements. 

Bide, Oppenheim and Ramsden have reported on copyright clearance and
digitisation in UK Higher Education for a JISC/PA Working Party on
Clearance Mechanisms.  They concluded that the issue of pricing for
digital use "can only benefit from further open discussions....  and
that mutually acceptable models of pricing should not be beyond us."

Even more recently, the Dutch scientific librarians together with a
large number of German university libraries have decided to take a joint
stand in their negotiations with publishers. 

PROGRAMME

10.00 - 10.15 Coffee and registration

10.15 - 10.30 Welcome and introduction
        Charles Oppenheim, International Institute for Electronic 
        Library Research

10.30 - 11.00 Considerations in rights licensing
        Richard McCracken, OU Rights Department

11.00 - 11.30  Licensing Principles Adopted by Dutch and German Libraries
        Hans Geleijnse, Librarian, Tilburg University

11.30 - 11.45 Discussion

11.45 - 12.45 Workshop 1: Terms for the licence

12.45 - 1.30 Lunch

1.30 - 2.00 Report back from rapporteurs

2.00 - 3.00 Alternative Licensing Models
        Gavin Robertson, New Technologies Schemes Manager, MCPS
        Kevin Stewart, Senior Contracts Manager, Hodder Headline (to be
        confirmed)

3.00 - 3.15 Discussion

3.15 - 3.30 Tea

3.30 - 4.15 Workshop 2: Negotiation/Terms for the licence contd

4.15 - 4.30 Round up and conclusions

4.30 Workshop close



REGISTRATION
Including lunch and all refreshments
Stlg 80.00

FURTHER INFORMATION

Please contact:
Mary Hunt
Jennie Lee Library
The Open University
Walton Hall
Milton Keynes MK7 6AA

Tel: 01908 652672
Fax: 01908 653571
Email: m.e.hunt@open.ac.uk

BOOKING FORM

Negotiating Electronic Copyright Permissions
Milton Keynes, Tuesday January 20th 1998

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First name: .....................................
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