Lassoing the Licensing Beast: How Electronic Resources Librarians Can Build Competency and Advocate for Wrangling Electronic Content Licensing

Abstract

The role electronic resources librarians (ERLs) have in licensing electronic content is the most relevant in the breadth of an ERLs core responsibilities. While ERLs are rarely lawyers in addition to being librarians, the role they play in educating stakeholders, negotiating with publishers and vendors, and crafting understanding of licensing terms is integral for the success of a rapidly growing and changing electronic collections environment. Often, new ERLs have to learn these skills on the job. Discussed are tools and resources for new ERLs to build their electronic content licensing competency and insight on how to educate to advocate for the ERLs role in licensing.