> As the SCOPE project, and the eLib programme as a whole, are scheduled
> to end next year, we are now in a position where we must agree with
> publishers the detail of how digital copies of copyright materials will
> be stored under escrow. I have been advised by Charles Oppenheim that a
> standard escrow arrangement would operate as follows:
I think I'm the one to blame for introducing this word 'escrow', and I
tend not to use it now. It has a very particular meaning, and is used
quite a lot in high value development projects, where proprietary material
would be held in escrow to be used only in case the contractor went bust
etc. You can see that the general idea translates across into what we want
to do with digitised material, but I'm not sure the details do. Escrow is
not cheap and implies a 3-cornered negotiation.
I've started using the term 'safe harbour' which gets away from the legal
baggage but otherwise doesn't help much. I could imagine something like a
'non-use retention licence' better encapsulating what we need.
Rather than depositing at a commercial escrow site, I have been wondering
if we could ask publishers to agree a special termination clause. This
would allow institutions to retain the material but not use it or provide
it to others without the publisher's permission. You then get round some
of the format problems, and can keep it on-line subject to your
institutional backup arrangements which ought to ensure its survival.
This is where a joint successor project to on-demand publishing and
electronic reserves, pooling the digitised and permission-granted
materials for member institutions might come in handy! (Sorry, no
promises.)
> 1. Who will administer the data ?
If escrow, the escrow agent
If non-use retnetion, the project
> 2. What form will data be stored in, e.g. object or source code ?
Mmmm the digitised form used by the project, I guess (I think this
question comes from the development contract scenario)
> 3. What physical format will data be stored on, e.g. high-density floppy
> disks ?
Preferably on-line, otherwise possibly CD-R???
> 4. Whether standards for storage, e.g. temperature and security, will be
> dictated by the project.
Fat chance if escrow; they will tell you what you get.
For non-use retention, you define.
> 5. How long a publisher will be expected to store materials for ?
Up to you to agree. Potentially the copyright period
> 6. What happens if data deteriorate ?
Potentially it's gone!
--
Chris Rusbridge
Programme Director, Electronic Libraries Programme
The Library, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK
Phone 01203 524979 Fax 01203 524981
Email [log in to unmask]
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