robertson

Electronic Resource Management and Rights Expression for Libraries: 

Electronic Resource Management and Rights Expression for Libraries Nathan D.M. Robertson University of Maryland School of Law “The Future of the Federal Library” Washington, DC 14 September 2005

Talk Outline: 

Talk Outline Electronic Resource Management Problem Solutions Outstanding Problems Rights Expression Issues Initiatives

Electronic Resource Management: 

Electronic Resource Management

ERM : The Problem: 

ERM : The Problem “As libraries have worked to incorporate electronic resources into their collections, services and operations, most have found their existing Integrated Library Systems to lack important functionality to support these new resources.” — Digital Library Federation Electronic Resource Management Initiative, August 2004

Data Fields: 

Data Fields Access URL (856) Title (245) Vendor (acq) Publisher (260) Renewal period (acq) Public display? (staff-only) Provider Vendor technical contact Permission to Archive Number of concurrent users Permission to ILL Authorized users License reviewer License period Consortial pricing structure Citation requirements Authorized locations Perpetual Access IP registration instructions Governing jurisdiction Cure period for breach Proxy server status Z39.50 attributes Subscriber branding Troubleshooting/ incident log Product trial Indemnification by licensee Maintenance window Scholarly sharing permission

Data Relationships: 

Electronic Version Data Relationships Print Version Interface License License License

Workflow: 

Workflow Workflow in the print world is relatively easy Physical object moves to prompt action Processes within existing systems act or prompt action Systems and needs are well-established Not so in the e-world No physical object No existing systems Systems are new

What You Need to Know, When You Need to Know It. . . .: 

What You Need to Know, When You Need to Know It. . . . Context-sensitive presentation of information Only ILL staff need to know about ILL limitations Only authorized users need to see e-journal (maybe) Relevant data relationships Print cancellation and e-access Consortial responsibilities, pricing Ticklers

ERM: Solutions: 

ERM: Solutions Data. . . . Relationships. . . . Workflow management. . . . Relevant, task-specific data presentation. . . . We need: Standards and Software!

Electronic Resource Management Initiative (ERMI): 

Electronic Resource Management Initiative (ERMI) Informal meeting, ALA Annual 2001 Exploratory NISO/DLF workshop, May 2002 Official DLF Initiative in October 2002: Describe architectures needed to manage large collections of licensed e-resources Establish lists of elements and definitions Write and publish XML Schemas/DTDs Promote best practices and standards for data interchange

DLF ERMI Report, August 2004: 

DLF ERMI Report, August 2004 http://www.diglib.org/pubs/dlfermi0408 Final Report Appendices: A: Functional Requirements B: Workflow Flowchart C: Entity Relationship Diagram D: Data Element Dictionary E: Data Structure F: XML Investigation

ERMI Report: 

ERMI Report Describes the problem Outlines existing solutions and efforts MIT’s VERA JHU’s HERMES UCLA’s ERDb Penn State’s ERLIC2 … many others Introduces the appendices. . . .

ERMI A: Functional Requirements: 

ERMI A: Functional Requirements 47 major requirements in 8 categories over 150 itemized requirements excerpt: 27. Store license rights and terms for reference, reporting, and control of services 27.1 For services including but not limited to ILL, reserves, distance education, course web sites, and course packs: 27.1.1 Identify whether a given title may be used for the service and under what conditions 27.1.2 Generate reports of all materials that may or may not be used for the service with notes about conditions

ERMI B: Workflow: 

ERMI B: Workflow Lifecycle of an e-resource from initial consideration to cessation 28 decision points 46 action items

ERMI C: ERD: 

ERMI C: ERD

ERMI D: Data Element Dictionary: 

ERMI D: Data Element Dictionary Almost 350 data elements with definitions excerpt:

ERMI E: Data Structure: 

ERMI E: Data Structure Data elements of Appendix D structured to show logical groupings and relationships excerpt:

ERMI F: XML Investigation: 

ERMI F: XML Investigation Decision to pursue “proof of concept” schemas covering licensing data elements DRM technologies and licensing Sample ERMI license data use cases Schemas for licensing elements, implementing: ODRL Create Commons RDF “Native” ERMI schema

Vendor Response to ERMI: 

Vendor Response to ERMI We Win!! ILS-based products in release or under development Serial vendor-based solutions

Standards Development: 

Standards Development ERMI is not a “standard” Recommended functionality and data fields A way (not the only way) to build relationships Shibboleth ONIX for Serials Packages Coverage/Holdings But what about . . . Identifiers? Licenses? Interoperability?

Outstanding Issues: 

Outstanding Issues Consortia Usage Statistics Standardization License Interpretation Rights Expression

Rights Expression for Libraries: 

Rights Expression for Libraries License

But Licenses are Rights, Right?: 

But Licenses are Rights, Right? Licenses define some rights Law defines some rights Interpretations of licenses and law define some rights Licenses include non-rights-related administrative information that libraries want in “actionable” form, e.g.:

“Actionable?” What Actions?: 

“Actionable?” What Actions? Communicate to users: “Licensee shall instruct all Users using the Database or output therefrom to give proper attribution to Licensor for any data extracted from the Database as follows:” Communicate to staff: “[Licensor] grants Subscriber the right to use certain of the Subscribed Content as source material for interlibrary loans on an experimental, article-by-article basis and under the following conditions....” Systematic action and calculation “Publisher may terminate this agreement ... in the event of a material breach by Licensee if such breach has not been cured within sixty (60) days of written notice from Publisher....” Reporting

Okay, libraries want License expression … but what about Rights?: 

Okay, libraries want License expression … but what about Rights? Absolutely! Eager to have a standardized way to capture rights, restrictions, and obligations so that our systems can communicate them to library staff and users. Very useful to have a shared communication standard to share license & rights expressions with partners. Absolutely Not! No machine enforcement! And why not? Machine enforcement requires absolutely explicit, very granular expressions.

What’s wrong with explicit expressions?: 

What’s wrong with explicit expressions? Licenses define some rights Law defines some rights Interpretations of licenses and law define some rights “[Adjudicating fair use] is not to be simplified with bright-line rules, for the statute, like the doctrine it recognizes, calls for case-by-case analysis.” [Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc., 510 U.S. 569 (1994)]

Ambiguity can be desirable: 

Ambiguity can be desirable China Alters Language On Taiwan By Philip P. Pan Washington Post Foreign Service Friday, May 13, 2005 BEIJING, May 12 -- Chinese President Hu Jintao proposed new diplomatic language Thursday aimed at ending the decades-old state of hostilities between China and Taiwan […] Under the new language, Hu effectively agreed to open talks if Taiwan accepted the principle of "two shores, one China" while acknowledging that the two sides might differ on precisely what that term meant.

Slide28: 

Permission Values Permitted (explicit) Permitted (interpreted) Prohibited (explicit) Prohibited (interpreted) Silent (uninterpreted) Not Applicable via RELs …does not suffice Licenses do not explicitly say everything user can do with a digital object Partners include consortia, with whom we need to share information about silence and license interpretations

Developments in License Expression: 

Developments in License Expression NISO Initiative on DRM Community’s “core requirements” document Reference model EDItEUR ONIX for Licensing Terms “wide-ranging ONIX schema for the description of licensing terms and resource usage permissions and policies” Publisher License Terms Format draft released in August 2005 Plans to develop a joint DLF/EDItEUR/NISO steering group to guide work

Questions and Comments: 

Questions and Comments Nathan D.M. Robertson nrobertson@law.umaryland.edu