License Working Group

COPPUL’s licensing program is managed by a licensing librarian who manages the full licensing cycle of COPPUL’s library e-resources. This position is supported by the License Working Group, a group of volunteer licensing librarians at member libraries who are tasked with reviewing COPPUL’s 90+ licenses.

Purpose

The License Working Group will assist the COPPUL Licensing Coordinator with review and negotiation of licenses for electronic resources licensed by COPPUL. This group will periodically review the COPPUL model license and will work with the Licensing Coordinator to develop training opportunities and communication strategies that support
licensing initiatives and expansion of licensing expertise at the local and consortial level.

The group will:

• Provide ongoing operational support to the COPPUL Licensing Coordinator by providing review and input for vendor licenses that are under negotiation, as needed.
• Consider processes to review, identify, and address shortcomings with existing licenses, for example, preservation and post-termination rights.
• Serve as a forum to share best practices for licensing electronic resources to support colleagues and develop licensing expertise capacity within COPPUL.
• Consider position statements on broad licensing issues, as needed.
• Review the COPPUL model license periodically, but at least bi-annually, to ensure the license language and clauses are current and reflect recent developments in the academic library environment.

Membership

The working group is open to full COPPUL members with an interest or expertise in license review and negotiation. The working group may have a combination of members with expertise and members with a keen interest to develop expertise in this area.

The working group consists of

• Minimum of four and maximum of six full COPPUL members
• COPPUL Licensing Coordinator
• COPPUL Executive Director (ex-officio)

Calls for new members will be made by the Executive Director in April of each year and communicated broadly across the membership. Members should send expressions of interest to the Executive Director including a statement of experience with license review. Members are selected by the Board, reflecting when possible the diversity of COPPUL membership (small, medium, and large institutions) and regional diversity. The Chair is chosen from the group. Members are selected for two and three year staggered terms.