More Libraries and Publishers Join SERU Agreement from NISO for E-Resources

Josh Hadro -- Library Journal, 01/05/2009

• 45 libraries, 15 publishers represent significant growth
• Document outlines best practices for streamlining license negotiations
• "Mutual agreement" is crux of non-binding understanding

Acquisitions has nearly become synonymous with contract negotiation and rights wrangling, especially in the tangled domain of licensing electronic resources including databases, serials, and e-books.

For the growing number of publishers, libraries, and consortia that have signed on to the Shared E-Resource Understanding (SERU) from NISO (National Information Standards Organization), the best practices document can potentially relieve them from many of the more labor intensive license negotiation efforts. "[T]here's the potential to return to the days when large, annual renewal negotiations were acquisitions transactions, completed quickly and efficiently to everyone's benefit," said Janet Belanger Morrow, head of non-print management at Northeastern University Libraries.

According to NISO, 45 university and public libraries have endorsed SERU, as has the Greater Western Library Alliance (GWLA), which includes schools like the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and the University of Southern California. Also, 15 new publishers have recently signed on, including Springer Science+Business Media, Taylor & Francis, and White Horse Press. The SERU registry now includes 65 library members and a total of 27 publishers.

Best practices
SERU is not a binding contract, but rather NISO's recommendations designed to expedite the license negotiation process between libraries and publishers for the acquisition of electronic resources, covering areas like perpetual access, archiving, and interlibrary loan. The crux of the SERU document lies in a set of mutual and voluntary agreements written in non-legal language and using terms widely accepted by libraries and publishers alike. According to the SERU FAQ, “it is designed to be a true alternative to a license agreement with no negotiation beyond pricing or related issues.”

Devoting her June 2008 column to the topic, LJ Online Databases columnist Carol Tenopir described the quick development of SERU, starting with its initial proposal at the 2005 American Library Association annual conference in Chicago, and the great deal of interest SERU has generated since its publication as a NISO recommended practice in February 2008.

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