The report investigates how academic libraries are handling contract review for content licenses. The study helps its readers answer questions such as: How much time are librarians spending on contract review? How often are contact sent out for review by college/university or other legal staff or contractors? How much time are legal staff spending on library content contract reviews? What percentage of libraries have a contract price “trigger” that necessitates legal review for a contract?
The study also presents detailed data on the frequency of use, trends and plans for so called “Big Deals” for academic journals, arrangements that account for a high share of content licensing costs for colleges and universities. In open ended questions, survey participants talk about their plans for content licensing review and for the “Big Deals.”
Just a few of this report’s many findings are that:
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Almost all survey participants with a contract price trigger that necessitates legal review for a content contract were research universities.
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The number of hours of librarian staff time spent annually on content license contract review issues ranged from 0 to 2,000.
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More than 60% of library directors were satisfied or very satisfied with their contract review procedures.