Tekijä: Terhi

IEEE yields to libraries’ pressure:

license agreement signed between FinELib-consortium and IEEE

20.2.2018

FinELib-office is pleased to report that FinELib-consortium members and IEEE have signed a license agreement regarding online use of the IEL–database. The agreement ensures access to journals, conference proceedings and standards mainly in the fields of electrical engineering and computer science. The agreement doesn’t contain an open access element. More details about the agreement will be published shortly.

The negotiations came to a standstill in the fall of 2017 when IEEE attempted to move from a consortium agreement to dealing individually with each consortium member‘s library. While the libraries appreciate an individual approach in other areas such as customer training, when it comes to contract negotiations they rejected it and insisted upon continuing to use the FinELib-office’s services. They voiced this to the publisher individually and also through their co-operative bodies: Council for Finnish University Libraries and AMKIT-consortium and the FinELib steering group.

The libraries’ clear stance on the issue convinced IEEE to return to negotiations with FinELib in December. This goes to show that libraries can possess considerable power when they share mutual goals.

The libraries are very pleased that IEEE respected their choice, an agreement was reached, and researchers, teachers and students we able to continue accessing the database without interruption.

Nordic Consortia support LIBER’s Five Principles for Negotiations with Publishers

22.1.2018

 

All Nordic consortia have signed the OA2020 “Expression of Interest in the Large-Scale Implementation of Open Access to Scholarly Journals” and are working for a transition from a subscription-based scholarly journal model to an open access publishing model.

The Association of European Research Libraries, LIBER, has published a strategy: “Five Principles for Negotiations with Publishers,” which is in line with the mission of OA2020.

Nordic consortia would hereby like to endorse LIBER’s principles and aim to meet them in publisher negotiations. Nordic countries have different national open access strategies, and, consequently, the relevance of all LIBER’s principles may differ from country to country.

LIBER’s Five Principle for Negotiations with Publishers:

1. Licensing and Open Access go Hand-in-Hand

The world of subscription deals and APC-deals are closely linked. Nobody should pay for  subscriptions and pay APCs at the same time (‘double dipping’). Each new license agreed  on should therefore contain conditions about both sides of the coin. Increased spending on  APCs should result in proportionately lower spending on subscription fees.

2.No Open Access, No Price Increase

There is enough money in the system already. Libraries have paid annual price increases of  up to 8% for years, supposedly to allow publishers to innovate. A key feature of innovation  for the research community is that research outputs are freely available. Therefore if an  agreement with publishers on Open Access cannot be reached in our contracts, future  price increases should not be accepted.

3. Transparency for Licensing Deals: No Non-Disclosure

The practices of libraries should fully reflect their commitment to Open Access. Licensing  agreements should therefore be openly available. Society will not accept confidential  agreements paid for with public money in the form of non-disclosure agreements, as recent developments in Finland and The Netherlands have shown.

4. Keep Access Sustainable

To avoid putting more money in the system, and to strengthen Open Access, some libraries  have given up their rights to perpetual access in license agreement. Perpetual access is,  however, critical in a quickly-changing publishing environment. Libraries must secure sustainable access to content.

5. Usage Reports Should Include Open Access

Although APC-buyouts are becoming more common, reporting about Open Access is still  rare. Just as libraries receive reports about downloads and usage in the subscription world,  they should also receive reports on Open Access publications. It is normal to receive insight  into what we pay for.

 

Bibsam Consortium http://www.kb.se/bibliotek/centralaavtal/Bibsam-Consortium/
CERES http://www.cristin.no/english/consortium/
DEFF https://www.deff.dk/english/
FinElib https://finelib.fi/
Iceland Consortium http://hvar.is/index.php?page=english

Picture licensed under CC BY https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Creator: Liber Europe http://libereurope.eu/blog/2017/09/07/open-access-five-principles-for-negotiations-with-publishers/ Disclaimer of warranties: CC BY section 5

IEEE refuses to negotiate with FinELib

15.12.2017

IEEE, provider of the IEL-database continues to refuse to negotiate with the FinELib-consortium regarding renewal of the IEL-license agreement. FinELib member organizations have repeatedly stated their will to continue subscribing via FinELib. Instead IEEE demands that each library negotiate its own contract, thereby reducing the libraries’ negotiating power.

The FinELib-consortium office was formed for the sole purpose of taking care of the negotiating work on behalf of the consortium members. Its job is to protect the members’ interests in the negotiation process and to ensure fair terms on their behalf. The libraries want to continue using FinELib office’s expertise and do not see any reason why IEEE should prevent that. Ulla Ohvo, library director of Lappeenranta University of Technology, says: “We are very disappointed that IEEE is ignoring what its customers want. This is not what we expect from a publisher who has collected a lot of money in subscription fees from us over the years.”

The FinELib steering group, Council for Finnish University Libraries and AMKIT-consortium have yesterday contacted IEEE to demand that IEEE return to the negotiations with FinELib-office but IEEE has refused. If IEEE does not listen to its customers’ demands and resume the negotiations with FinELib, there is a risk of a cut in access to the database when the current agreement term ends 31.12.2017.

IEL-negotiations
at a standstill

27.11.2017

IEL is an electrical engineering and computer science database providing access to IEEE and IET journals and conference proceedings as well as IEEE standards. Currently 19 FinELib-organisations subscribe to the collection.

IEEE, the provider of IEL database, made a consortium offer that would have led to a significant price increase unless a substantial number of new subscribers were found. The consortium rejected this offer. Now IEEE is refusing to continue to work with the FinELib-consortium. Instead they are making direct offers to individual institutions. IEEE is disregarding the institutions’ requests to receive an offer via the consortium. The consortium steering group has instructed the FinELib office to insist upon receiving a consortium offer.

Kansalliskirjasto
kansalliskirjasto.fi