Overview

The E-Content Group (ECG) is a standing group that works under the auspices of the Alliance Shared Content & Technical Services (SCTS) Team. It is composed of five (5) staff from Alliance member libraries with expertise and interest in e-resource acquisition, licensing, and vendor management. The group also includes Program Manager-SCTS and E-Resources Specialist. Outcomes for this working group include:

• Review Alliance-wide licenses for e-resources to ensure alignment with Alliance values and the strategic plan. The ECG will work to draft model license language when appropriate. 
• Evaluate internal cost allocations for e-resources on a regular basis to ensure equity across Alliance e-resource subscribers. The ECG will propose new or amended allocation as needed. 
• Determine how Open Access (OA) can be incorporated into the Alliance SCTS program. The ECG will consider opportunities to support and promote OA in a consortial context. (Anticipated to start no earlier than Year two of the strategic plan.)

Documents

To codify Alliance licensing best practices, and to provide a guide for consortial and institutional licensing, the ECG created the “Licensing Best Practices” document. The document was approved by the SCTS Team and community in August 2020; minor revisions are made as needed:

• Licensing Best Practices (PDF) – Updated January 2022.

In May 2021, the ECG provided an overview of various Open Access (OA) Acquisitions models to the SCTS community:

• OA Acquisitions Models (Google Slides)

In July 2021, the ECG co-presented a session on accessibility with the Accessibility Standing Group (ASG) at the Alliance Summer meeting:

• Accessibility and the Alliance: Working together to provide readily available shared content to everyone

COUNTER links:

• CONTER 5: Understanding journal metrics and reports (2020)
• COUNTER Registry (2022)
  • Blog post about the Registry (2022)
• Ex Libris COUNTER/SUSHI Alliance Development Project (2021)

Links

• FORCE11 Declaration of Research Rights in Negotiating the Future of Scholarly Communication. This initiative created a ready-to-use contract negotiation principles document for building stakeholder consensus. (August 1, 2021.)
• LYRASIS Open Access Community Investment Program (OACIP). Provides a community-driven framework that enables multiple stakeholders (including funders, institutions, libraries, authors, and editors) to efficiently and strategically evaluate and collectively fund open access content initiatives. (Launched 2020, expanded 2021.)