LYRASIS seeks to partner with members and vendors, to provide products and services under attractive prices and terms that members may otherwise not be able to achieve on their own. This includes many specially negotiated offers with high standards for favorable pricing and terms. LYRASIS has defined a set of expectations and terms that it can leverage for the benefit of all participating members. We have developed a “central” model license approach to reflect these terms and simplify the administrative process for licensing eContent. This collaborative approach is designed to maximize participation at substantial discounts otherwise not achievable through individual library action.
Some of the key expectations and terms include:
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Create collective benefit for institutions that act together that are otherwise unachievable separately
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Utilize a central license for all participants when possible, with high standards for legal, business and usage terms
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Provide the best electronic ILL rights where appropriate
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Obtain Coursepack / eReserve / Course management system rights
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Ensure COUNTER and SUSHI compliant stats are provided
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Ensure that appropriate downloading rights are provided to maximize the utility of the EContent
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Structure the licenses and prices to apply to as wide an audience of library types and sizes (and other cultural heritage organizations)
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Ensure provision of free MARC records where appropriate
Our efforts have created an evolving spectrum of collaborative licensing approaches for member libraries as specific conditions and negotiations warrant with each vendor. All are based on maintaining the independent decision-making of each member while seeking to maximize leverage through collective action.
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Traditional Member Opt-in Licenses: There is a discounted price schedule from LYRASIS with prices lower than those available to an individual library acting alone.
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“The More the Merrier” Licenses: There is a discounted price schedule from LYRASIS with lower prices than those available to an individual library. The discount gets better for each participating library as the total number of participating libraries grows. The size of the LYRASIS membership becomes a benefit for all members, large and small.
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Inter-Consortial Licenses: Using either the Traditional or “The More the Merrier” approach, combining simultaneous efforts across consortia can further increase our bargaining power by increasing the potential for the vendor.
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Build-a-Group Licenses: In some cases we can increase our leverage if we first gather a core of very interested libraries before we approach a vendor for prices and terms. With an initial level of expressed demand, the vendor may provide more attractive initial prices and terms, and better incentives to all participants as the group increases in size.
Determining how to best apply these approaches is a never-ending evolving process. LYRASIS has an experienced licensing team working to negotiate with vendors the approaches that best serve the membership on a sustainable basis. Member libraries that want to receive continuing information on all LYRASIS licensing activities should be sure to subscribe to the LYRoffers email list here.
