Joint Information Systems Committee

JISC and Digital Rights ManagementJISC/British Library Workshop 24th April 2006

Joint Information Systems Committee

Introduction

About Us

Structure

– FE/HE Context and Issues

– Potential Solutions and Current Work

– Model Licences

Questions / Discussion

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Diversity of content

JISC is interested in content that is …

used by staff in FE and HE institutions

produced by staff in FE and HE institutions

produced by students in FE and HE institutions

produced by JISC funded projects

provided by commercial sector via JISC Collections

in all media types and file formats

held in libraries, Virtual Learning Environments, websites, repositories …

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Issues to Consider

Ownership

Many institutions employ teaching staff on contracts that state the employer owns content created in the course of employment, but there is a common misconception that the academic holds their own copyright over their content

Academic/Teacher Created Content

The increased visibility of content created or aggregated by teaching staff requires improved practices of third party copyright clearance and attribution within “home-grown” digital materials

Cautious Approach to DRM

Diversity and complexity of licensing arrangements ‘force’ librarians to adopt a cautious approach to encouraging and providing use of electronic resources

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JISC DRM Study

HEI and FEI staff are often unaware of rights ownership issues, or are put off by their apparent complexity

Further confusion is generated by the large variety of licences, with differing terms and conditions, that are applied to different works and there was a need for a more harmonised approach to licence terms and conditions

There was potential for the use of Digital Rights Expression Languages (DRELS) to be used describe permitted uses, rights holders etc in a fashion which would simplify or automate a significant proportion of the rights management process for users of works

Methods for ensuring the effective and consistent transfer of rights information attached to works were not yet in place, and significant work remained to be carried out, in particular in the area of globally unique identifiers

If users are to make effective use of rights management information, including permitted uses, then such information will have to be provided to them in a clear and readily comprehensible way, for example the use of symbols.

If a DRM system is to work, then rightholders must, if necessary, be in legal position to enforce the rights, both via technical means, and via the law. However, both access management and enforcement methods should be designed in such a way as to provide minimum obstruction to legitimate uses, including archiving and preservation.

as summarised in “Rights in Digital Environments” Workshops

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Potential Digital Rights Solutions

JISC is interested in:

Advocacy and awareness

Enforcement through institutional policies

Digital Rights Expression Languages

Presentation of rights

Model Licences

Licence registries

Clearance processes for third party rights

Access, authorisation and authentication

– And more!

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JISC’s Current Work

JISC is addressing legal and advocacy work on a number of ways: JISC Legal information service, a joint advocacy toolkit project with SURF Netherlands, a dedicated IPR consultancy, and encouraging projects to share approaches

There is a growing interest in the open access and open content ethos, and in initiatives such as Creative Commons, so JISC has commissioned work to identify where this solution could be applied

Through the integrated information environment, JISC aims to provide scaleable and sustainable solutions. Initiatives such as ODRL offer an approach, but the patent limits its potential use

Shared infrastructure for curation and discovery to delivery, such as licence registries, can support the rights management process, JISC has commissioned UKOLN to investigate these requirements

Work to negotiate licensing agreements for FE/HE requirements, e.g self-archiving of journal articles to institutional repositories, the right to make copies for preservation etc

The use of standardised rights expressions and model licences can help the flow of content within the sector, and encourage flexible content provision, and JISC is leading the sector in this area

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JISC Model Licences

JISC Model licences since mid-1990s

JISC Model Licence is used with all JISC agreements

Currently over 50 agreements for electronic resources and 15 e-journal agreements

– Publishers and aggregators include Elsevier, OUP, Blackwells, RSC, IoP, Springer, Taylor & Francis, AAAS, Sage, Thomson Scientific, Ovid, Bureau van Dijk, ProQuest, Wiley

Model licence provide STABILITY and SECURITY for both institutions and publishers

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JISC Model Licence

Allows institutions, their staff and students to gain the maximum value from online resources through secure but flexible terms of use and non-restrictive DRM

Allows for unlimited concurrent access by all staff and students of subscribing institutions.

Allows for Walk In Users

Permitted uses in teaching and education including use of material in course packs, and VLEs

Provides for archival access to subscribed journal content

Currently negotiating with publishers to permit deposit in JORUM and for archiving via the LOCKSS initiative

JISC Model Licence is reviewed annually to take account of developments in the wider information environment, scholarly communications and licensing

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BUT…

The Science and Technology Committee - 10th Report made a number of recommendations regarding the JISC Model Licence – BUT most recommendations were already in the licence!

Use of resources limited not by licence but by lack of knowledge of licence

JISC Collections needs to communicate the terms of the licence in lay-terms to help institutions get best value from resources and effectively manage resource use.

The Guide to the JISC Model Licence and Guide to the Model NESLi2 Licence for Journals explains the definitions, restrictions and permitted uses of electronic resources in learning and research.

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Future Challenges

Already complicated to communicate DRM via model licences

In future increasing need for non-standard licences

– Cross-sectoral licences e.g. NHS-HE

– Commercial spin offs from universities

– HE in FE

– Courses offered by a consortium of institutions both within UK and overseas

– ‘Virtual’ communities

Publishers are wary of non-standard licences in such cases

– Unforeseen economic consequences

– Risk of ‘losing control’ of content

Adoption of ERMs

– Time taken to input licences

– Librarians wary of interpreting licences incorrectly

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Find out more

Key Information JISC Model Licences http://www.jisc.ac.uk/coll_model_licence.html

JISC DRM Study http://www.intrallect.com/drm-study/

Rights in Digital Environments Workshops http://www.jisc.ac.uk/events_ipr.html

JISC Legal Information Service for FE and HE http://www.jisclegal.ac.uk/

Contacts Amber Thomas, Programme Manager, Repositories, Development Group amber.thomas@jisc.ac.uk

Liam Earney, Collections Manager, Services Group l.earney@jisc.ac.uk