IEEE refuses to negotiate with FinELib

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.