Role of Librarians in the Procurement Process for Electronic Information Resources

• Librarians are subject matter experts
• Librarians have knowledge of publishing industry practices
• The leadership of librarians in negotiations
• Procurement Process Opportunity - Federal Science eLibrary Proof of Concept

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1. Librarians are subject matter experts

Librarians are subject matter experts and have the competences to acquire and license electronic information resources. The selection of resources to be acquired is based on the librarian's knowledge of the information and the research needs of library clients. Librarians ensure that clients have continuous, uninterrupted access to information resources. An organization cannot function smoothly when access to information resources is cut off due to delays in acquiring content.

Librarians acquire rights to access electronic resources by negotiating licenses with publishers. Business drivers in acquiring these rights are:

• access to content that meets client needs,
• access for a maximum number of users,
• fair pricing and value for dollar, and
• accountability for acquisition budget expenditures.

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2. Librarians have knowledge of publishing industry practices

The intellectual property rights of a publication belong to only one publisher. There are no two publishers that publish the same journal or the same book. Given that each publication is unique, from a procurement perspective this content can be considered sole source.

It is industry practice for librarians and publishers to negotiate the terms and price of licenses. Negotiation is required to ensure libraries obtain fair pricing and value for dollar.

Librarians know and understand the publishing industry and the scholarly communication cycle. Librarians understand the roles of the various players in the publishing environment – publishers (commercial, society,for-profit, not-for-profit), vendors, subscription agents, etc. It is a library best practice in libraries for library managers to be responsible for:

• negotiating licenses with publishers,
• managing the license throughout its life cycle,
• establishing and maintaining mutually-beneficial working relationships with publishers, and
• communicating with the publisher regularly to resolve client access issues and ensure quality service.

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3. The leadership of librarians in negotiations

• Direct negotiations around the price of content are critical to ensure that libraries are paying a fair price. This is the only way to ensure best value and maximum reach of library budgets.
• Negotiations are critical, especially for electronic journal packages where there is no published list price and contract restrictions prevent libraries from freely sharing pricing information. The best strategy that libraries have developed to control double digit price increases is through direct negotiation.
• Other terms in the license also need to be negotiated to ensure that libraries have the best licensing conditions. Terms include: timely support from the vendor, the addition/deletion of titles, formats and contents of statistical reports, permanent access to electronic titles
• In recent years, libraries have formed consortia in order to extend the reach of acquisition dollars spent and significantly increase access to information. Consortia – led by librarians - exist worldwide. Federal government librarians are ready to bring the benefits of consortial purchasing to Canadian public servants with the support of procurement specialists.

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4. Procurement Process Opportunity - Federal Science eLibrary Proof of Concept

Librarians seek the expertise of procurement officers in their own departments or in PWGSC in order to complete procurement activities and to respect authority limits. Procurement specialists provide guidance and advice in procurement procedures.

The Federal Science eLibrary Proof of Concept is an opportunity to explore and test procurement processes for electronic information resources in a consortial environment.

The FSeL Proof of Concept Project is an opportunity to:

• apply publishing industry standards and enter into direct negotiations with the publisher,
• develop a multi-disciplinary negotiation team to support negotiations,
• explore and define the role of the multi-disciplinary team (librarians, consortial members, procurement officers, legal advisors, etc.) in negotiating licenses, and
• identify and document issues, risks and processes needed to meet the requirements and timeframe of negotiation.

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