Electronic ILL & Licenses

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  • We just received an addendum to a vendor license that contains the following statement:

    "Interlibrary Loan of articles is now permitted electronically, provided the requesting library deletes the electronic file immediately after opening and provided the end user receives a print copy and not an electronic copy of the article."

    As the lending library, I cannot possibly guarantee that the borrowing library will 1) delete the file immediately after opening and/or 2) not e-mail the article to the end user. In facm how could I even know whether or not the borrowing/requesting library does these things?

    If my library signs this addendum are we legally responsible for what the borrowing library does?? Is this enforceable? Or, can I just ignore this statement and sign it?
  • Hi Catherine -

    You certainly cannot certify that the borrowing library will take the required actions, so the main issue is this: Does the license require you to take responsibility for the borrowing library's actions? I doubt it does, as that would be unreasonable.

    What I would do, is repeat this quote on a cover page of any files you send, with the terms in large, bold, maybe even color type. You could also state that if the library cannot agree to these terms to please destroy the file immediately and alert you, the lending library to their inability to do so.

    In that way, you can prove that you advised the borrowing library of the vendors terms and asked them to alert you if they cannot comply. There's not much more you can do!

    -- Trisha
    [quote]We just received an addendum to a vendor license that contains the following statement:

    "Interlibrary Loan of articles is now permitted electronically, provided the requesting library deletes the electronic file immediately after opening and provided the end user receives a print copy and not an electronic copy of the article."

    As the lending library, I cannot possibly guarantee that the borrowing library will 1) delete the file immediately after opening and/or 2) not e-mail the article to the end user. In facm how could I even know whether or not the borrowing/requesting library does these things?

    If my library signs this addendum are we legally responsible for what the borrowing library does?? Is this enforceable? Or, can I just ignore this statement and sign it?[/quote]

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