Proposal for national licenses for online resources

Response to Making online information for all Australians a reality: a proposal by the National Licensing Reference Group to all Australian libraries, issues paper July 2005. (Endorsed by the ALIA Board of Directors, 19 September 2005)

The Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) welcomes the opportunity to comment on the proposal for a national cross-sectoral libraries consortium for the purchase of national licences for selected online resources.

1. Whether the majority of Australian libraries are interested in and would support a national licence

ALIA supports the concept of national licences for selected online resources and the objectives for a national licensing initiative as set out in the issues paper (Section 1, p.3).

The association believes that co-ordinated and cost-effective purchasing of online resources at a national level has the potential to assist libraries from all sectors to provide quality online information for their users.

As stated in ALIA's comments on the issues paper for the December 2004 roundtable on national site licensing, the association believes that the senate libraries in the online environment report and recommendations have provided an opportunity to lobby for improved access to digital information and the development of national information networks. ALIA has welcomed the senate report's findings, its endorsement of the fundamental role of libraries in the Australian community and its recognition of the need for greater support for connectivity, access to online content and for national leadership in information provision.

In ALIA's response to the senate report the association supported recommendation 9, that the National Library of Australia identify a number of key databases for which national site licensing might be desirable; and that additional Australian government funding be extended to the national library for this purpose. ALIA suggested that this should be done in collaboration with the sector and we encouraged the government to provide funding as determined and specified by the NLA. The association suggested that consideration of national site licences should include the generation of and access to Australian online content.

ALIA therefore welcomes the development of this proposal by the National Licensing Reference Group (NLRG) and has been pleased to contribute through its representation on the reference group and through assisting to publicise the issues paper in the sector.

2. Views on the proposed model, including governance and funding

Objectives
In addition to cost-effective purchasing as outlined in the fourth dot point under objectives, the project should aim to maximise the return on investment by participating libraries and/or government. For example, minimum levels of post-sales support services such as marketing and training should be specified.

Benefits
The issues paper raises as a benefit the potential of the project to overcome the isolation experienced by those living in rural and remote regions of Australia, by facilitating their access to information resources. However, other factors outside the scope of the project, such as ICT infrastructure and bandwidth capacity, will have an impact on the accessibility of resources.

Economies of scale are raised as a vendor benefit. The extent of economies of scale will depend on the levels of customisation and personalisation available to consortium members.

The issues paper suggests the service would promote a 'greater consistency in the development and application of technical and contractual criteria, and hence improved access and authentication to electronic information' (p.4). This would require clearly defined requirements with which suppliers can reasonably comply.

Structure
ALIA would welcome representation on the steering committee or other governing body. It is also suggested that the governing body include at least one member with business/commercial expertise and background, but who is independent of vendor interests.

It is suggested that the steering committee's terms of reference should include vendor/community liaison to ensure that the business requirements of vendors are considered in designing purchase requirements, and that these requirements feed into the buying process guidelines. This liaison should occur prior to documentation being released to vendors to ensure necessary questions are asked and that appropriate information is solicited for the decision process.

The formation of a consortium standing advisory committee with representatives from all major library sectors, vendors and funding authorities is also supported to improve mutual understanding of each group's needs and concerns. Because of ALIA's position as a representative of individual and institutional members across all sectors and its experience in this area through the work of the ALIA Purchasing and Consortia Reference Group, the association would wish to be represented on this committee.

Charging/funding models
To ensure sustainable self-funding of services in the longer term membership fees should build in costs of marketing the selected services to the potential user community as well as administrative costs. Vendors must price content in a fair and sustainable way to ensure long-term success. Any opt-in model needs to include the ability for late entry participation through the subscription period.

Content/product range
ALIA's supports the intention of the service to focus in the first instance on Australian content and on a small number of full-text resources for which there is expected to be broad national demand.

Some concerns have been expressed about the inclusion of APAFT as a named product, rather than an Australian content product created for the national cross-sectoral consortium. Naming a particular product may preclude the evaluation and/or development of other services that would serve the identified need.

The assumption is that the consortium is to licence web-based services, but this is not specified.

Ability to cross-search between products selected, multiple access points (eg Marc records, direct linking) and simplicity of use are key benefits. Consideration should be given to implementation and access tools to support this and to aid the roll out and training of products from multiple vendors.

Administration, communication and marketing
ALIA has been pleased to support the development of the proposal through its representation on the NLRG by Richard Sayers, convenor of the ALIA Purchasing and Consortia Reference Group and through assisting with communication to the sector about the site license proposal. We would wish to continue with a similar level of support.

3. Issues relating either to the proposed model or to alternative approaches

Further development of the proposal
The issues paper puts forward the objectives and benefits of a national cross-sectoral consortium and a content, governance and funding model to gauge the level of support for such a consortium among Australian libraries. Assuming that the concept is well-supported, the proposal will require further development to include success criteria and evaluation.

Administrative support should include product and service evaluation (post and pre-sale) and development of marketing strategies. Responsibilities for assisting libraries to integrate the chosen services, vendor liaison and product support would need to be specified.

Training and skills development
Training and skills development relating to licensing of and access to online resources has been highlighted as a need across library sectors in the forums on purchasing agreements and licensing organised by ALIA in 2004. Training needs include understanding and analysing licences; skills in negotiation both with suppliers and with consortium partners; and user education and support. Through its continuing professional development program ALIA may be able to develop and provide some training in these areas.

Jennefer Nicholson, executive director