ONIX-PL is what you get when you combine licenses with XML

To license – give

To license – receive

A license

They are everywhere now – digital and physical, e.g. Turbo Tax and parking stickers

Talking about click-through licenses

But libraries have made massive investment negotiating. is it worthwhile? (Mentions SERU – an opportunity to move beyond this.) What do we do with them after we sign them? Since 1997 seeking a way to express license terms. Then DLF-ERMI (2002) – looking at questions of how are people managing info regarding licensed network resources?

DLF ERMI described workflows – initial report highlights differences between print and electronic. phase between decision to purchase and actual acquisition. business and license negotiation, technical evaluation.

ERMI recommended exploring definitions of license terminology, training community on how to encode, exchange of terms. (other non-license recommendations – many of the recommendations have a corresponding NISO standard or working group, e.g. cost per use calculations – CORE)

Reviews sample clauses and need for interpretation, e.g. regarding ILL terms. Lack of clarity makes it more difficult to encode.

Encoding: increases awareness, easier to share, improved compliance, better clarity (if desired – ambiguity can be a good thing), maybe better/faster/easier negotiation

Joint License Expression Working Group – multiple tracks: ONIX-PL, mapping ERMI to ONIX-PL, promotion, review of terms, planning survey to assess need for maintenance of ERMI data dictionary

Finally getting to ONIX: ONline Information eXchange. suite of XML schemas for publishing industry info. other schemas besides ONIX-PL are ONIX – Books, ONIX – Serials

ONIX-PL not a rights expression language – not actionable. just “this is what it says”. not designed to enable or prevent access. (rights expression language = think DRM). open to interpretation

Available and ready to use format, spec, dictionary, editing tools. discussion of intermediary role for subscription agents or other orgs.

Question about cost of doing the encoding and who bears it – idea is that publishers do the encoding and hope to transfer the encoded data into, e.g., an ERM.

How could you use it? Eliminate mapping and manual entry into ERM. Improve interface for accesing terms. Simplify negotiation? Improve storage, sharing, public display. Auditing.

Current use? Goal to have 5 publisher implementation by end of year. JISC requiring of 80+ license. Publishers LIcensing Society encoding on behalf of some pubs. Nature doing some work. Elsevier, Springer, others doing pilot with SerSol through SCELC (something California … Consortium? not sure)

Showing screens of the ONIX-PL editor. web form for data input.

Working group made up of vendors, pubs, agents, libraries. Currently interested in expanding library involvement in working group. Question about role of the agent – reps in room described work on behalf of both library and publishers, assisting the process from both sides.

Future directions: JISC funded initiative for repository of license. Survey of community to assess priority to libraries.

Final thoughts: Communicating terms is difficult! Need cost-benefit analysis – ambiguity vs. clarity, level of detail you need. It’s not an enforcement mechanism.

Squeaky wheel – if customers don’t prioritize this with ERM vendors it won’t be developed.

Slides will be on NISO site, add’l resources given on slides.