Licensing Practices of Libraries and Content Providers, Survey Instrument

Abstract

This survey tool was designed to assess the current licensing practices and the adoption of NISO's Shared E-Resource Understanding (SERU) by libraries and publishers. The survey of librarians and publishers with licensing responsibilities intended to answer the following research questions: ● How many libraries use SERU? ● How often is SERU used in place of a negotiated, signed license? ● What proportion of e-resource acquisitions are covered by SERU? ● Do libraries advocate for SERU when speaking with publishers? If so, how often and in what way? ● What are the reasons why a library would not use SERU? ● How much do libraries suggest changes to vendor provided licenses? ● How much licensing/negotiation support do libraries have access to, whether that be licensing librarians or general counsel? ● Who does the negotiation for academic libraries? The survey was in English and completed online.