Licensing Priorities

The University Libraries are committed to seamlessly connecting people with the highest quality information and expertise. We practice responsible stewardship by advocating for equitable information production, discovery, and access. Our goal in establishing these priorities is to increase transparency and to communicate the Libraries’ values and expectations for licensed resources to our stakeholders and vendors. 

In keeping with these values, we have identified qualities that our resources should embody:

• Accessibility 
  Provide equitable access to information for all library users. The Libraries prioritizes acquiring materials with a demonstrated commitment to web accessibility, universal design principles, and optimizing end-user experiences. 
• Affordability 
  Reduce subscription costs to a sustainable level. Recognize the limitations on campus budgets and lack of funding from the state of Colorado, as one of the lowest states for higher education funding. The Libraries negotiate fair and sustainable prices for resources and services based on transparent and cost-based pricing models. 
• Author’s Rights and Open Access
  Given the University’s Open Access policy, respect researchers’ rights to retain copyright and/or immediately deposit their work in an institutional repository. Demonstrate a commitment to a sustainable transition towards open access content. The Libraries partner with publishers who engage actively in OA, and are continually innovating in conjunction with authors to accelerate access to information and publicly-funded research.
• Computational Access 
  Recognize evolving researcher needs and provide computational access at no additional cost to content, with no restrictions on non-consumptive, computational analysis of the corpus.
• Preservation 
  Ensure long-term digital preservation and accessibility of content through partnerships with trusted digital archives. Offer perpetual access rights to purchased content.
• Privacy and Security 
  Preserve users’ right to privacy, ensure data security, and prevent unauthorized use of user data. The right to free inquiry as assured by the First Amendment depends upon the ability to read and access information free from scrutiny by the government or other third parties. Libraries have an ethical obligation to protect user privacy and confidentiality. 
• Scholarly Sharing 
  Allow the ability to borrow and lend between libraries (interlibrary loan), including the ability to lend whole ebooks and other digital content in its entirety. An active academic community needs the ability to share information in order to engage in scholarly discourse and collaborative research and learning. ILL is an established practice in libraries and essential to supporting research in digital and print formats.
• Transparency
  Eliminate license terms or practices, such as non-disclosure or confidentiality clauses, that are counter to our obligations as a state institution and limit our ability to release information that could create more equitable or transparent pricing. Share usage statistics and information about affiliated authors, editors, and publications, and article processing charge payments (see our Collection Disclosures page). 

University Libraries Faculty Resolution in Support of Libraries Licensing Priorities

On May 4, 2023 the University Libraries Faculty voted in support of the following resolution. 

WHEREAS a lack of state funding results in a limited campus budget for operating and general funds; and 

WHEREAS ongoing subscription costs and inflationary increases for library resources outpace budget increases and imperils the Libraries’ ability to meet current and projected collection, research, and service needs; and

WHEREAS publishers rely on uncompensated or minimally compensated academic labor in the form of authorship, peer review, and editorship in the creation of journals and content; and

WHEREAS publishers levy Article Processing Charges (APCs) on authors in addition to the subscription fees paid by the Libraries; and

WHEREAS publishers restrict authors' abilities to share their articles openly with other researchers and with the public at large, contrary to our goals, the goals of scholarship, and our goals as a public institution; and

WHEREAS publishers use non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) or confidentiality clauses to obscure contractual terms with universities and hinder free, transparent negotiations; and

WHEREAS publishers leverage profits to exert control over key tools for managing the research lifecycle and scholarly communications; and

WHEREAS publishers use institutional data as business intelligence to create additional subscription content or services; therefore

BE IT RESOLVED that the University Libraries faculty endorse the Libraries Licensing Priorities as outlined on this page.