The basis of all of our agreements is the JISC Model Licences, which we draft on behalf of our members. There are currently four JISC Model Licences:
- NESLi2 for e–journals
- databases – most commonly used for Abstracting & Indexing / Bibliographic databases, full text databases, reference works, digital image collections, map data etc
- e–books
- moving image and sound
Key benefits:
1. Flexible terms and conditions
Our Model Licences contain more favourable terms and conditions than any standard commercial licence for access and use of a resource would allow. We carefully draft these so as provide opportunities for our members to get the most out of the online resources they subscribe to. For example extracts from a resource can be used in course packs, student assignments (with the appropriate citations), teaching and research materials; users should be able to access the resource both on and off campus.
2. Consistent licence terms
As all of our agreements are based the above Model Licences, they are easier to understand as they are nearly always the same. In those few cases where there are substantive differences with the JISC Model Licences, we always strive to make these changes as clear as possible to our members before they subscribe to a resource. Our Helpdesk and Licensing Teams are always on hand to help you with any queries you may have regarding licences for the resources in our Catalogue.
3. Statement of quality
Our mission is to provide our members with quality assured resources, therefore we only licence resources that meet our stringent criteria to ensure that subscribing institutions can get the most out of the resources and that they are accessible to as many people as possible who are authorised to use them under the licence terms. This includes compliance with the JISC Information standards such as the UK Access Management Federation, Open URL linking, use of the Z39.50 protocol, Dublin Core metadata, provision of COUNTER compliant usage statistics, and compliance with the WAI accessibility standards. With our agreements you can rest assured that most or all of these are included as standard.
4. Saving our members time
We save you time as we undertake all of the negotiations on your behalf.
5. Saving our members money
We save you money because we act as a consortia to get you a better deal.
6. Continually setting the licensing benchmark
Our Model Licences are widely adopted by other consortia who often use them as a template for drafting their own licenses. We periodically update these licences to ensure that they continue to meet our member's needs, take advantage of changes in technology and development of new business models.
We have produced a Guide to the JISC Model Licence which attempts to demystify and explain this in an easy to understand format.
