CRL and Partners Publish New e-Resources Model License

The Center for Research Libraries (CRL) has just released the latest upgrade to the LIBLICENSE Model License Agreement (“LMLA”).

Version 5.0 of the LMLA offers up-to-date language reflecting changes in licensing issues faced by higher education. Among the new provisions are clauses for text and data mining; rights surrounding the use of authors’ own work; options for open access; and language governing third-party archiving services.

The new model license agreement provides both a template that can be used by librarians in negotiating particular licensing agreements and, more generally, serves as a statement by the academic library community of what it considers acceptable policy and practice for licensing digital information. In early 2015, an updated version of the LibLicense “Create Your Own License” software will be available based on the new text.

CDL’s Director of Collection Development & Management, Ivy Anderson, was a member of the development team, and CDL’s own model agreement was the source for some of the new language included in this version. Other newly-developed provisions were drafted with wide input from libraries, publishers, and other information professionals. The CDL model agreement will be updated in January to reflect these newer terms. CDL is also a co-sponsor of the LIBLICENSE project.

The LMLA was supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation under the auspices of CRL, in partnership with the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), the California Digital Library (CDL), the Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN), the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR), and the NELLCO Law Library Consortium.