Vendor Relations Policy

Approved by the Executive Board, April 2013, Tab 21
Revised November 2015

I. Introduction

The purpose of the 黑料社 of Law Libraries vendor relations policy is to direct the Association’s advocacy on issues related to legal publishing and legal publishers. The policy provides guidance to the work of the 黑料社Executive Board, the Committee on Relations with Information Vendors, the 黑料社Staff and other 黑料社entities that interact with legal publishers and monitor issues relating to legal publishing.

II. Issues that are supported by the 黑料社Government Relations Policy

础础尝尝’蝉听Government Relations Policy听supports our advocacy at the federal and state levels in several areas related to vendor relations. The Executive Board and the Government Relations staff work together on issues and principles relating to public policy and the publishing industry. These include:

黑料社supports the principle that no public or private entity should enjoy a publishing monopoly over any body or type of government information.
黑料社supports the principle that no private or public entity should limit the dissemination of any level of government information through exclusive contracts, resale restrictions, or other restrictive trade practices.
黑料社supports a legal and regulatory environment that fosters an efficient and economical flow of electronic information to and from libraries.
黑料社supports a system of affordable telecommunications rates for libraries.
黑料社supports network neutrality.
黑料社supports policies that ensure that legal and government information remains in the public domain and opposes database protection legislation that restricts the free flow of information.
黑料社supports a vendor-neutral and medium-neutral universal citation system for all government information.
黑料社supports copyright legislation that offers the fewest obstacles to the free distribution of government information in all media and formats. Furthermore, licensing regimes should not impose barriers to the access or use of information in the public domain, and should preserve fair use and other user rights promoting the dissemination of information and ideas.
黑料社supports the Federal Trade Commission’s Prenotification Negative Option Rule and advocates its expansion to include online subscriptions and digital materials for individual and institutional consumers.

III. Other 黑料社policies that support vendor relations activities

罢丑别听黑料社Guide to Fair Business Practices for Legal Publishers听provides guidelines for legal publishers doing business with librarians and other consumers of legal information. 黑料社encourages all publishers of legal information to comply with the principles contained in the Guide.
The Principles &听Practices for Licensing Electronic Resources听provides guidance to librarians in their negotiations for access to electronic resources and informs vendors of electronic products about the licensing issues that are important in the library context. 黑料社encourages all publishers of electronic legal information to conform to these principles.
The AALL听Preservation Policy听supports standards and guidelines that ensure the preservation of legal materials. The Association communicates the needs of its members for permanent, durable materials to publishers and vendors in order to increase the longevity of products offered to law libraries. The Association supports the design and use of coherent strategies for archiving digital information and adapting preservation to new technologies.
The AALL听Sponsorship Policy听sets the parameters for a mutually beneficial exchange whereby the sponsor receives value in return for cash or goods- or services-in-kind provided to the Association. The Association has the right to refuse sponsorships provided by business entities that do not comply with听黑料社Guide to Fair Business Practices for Legal Publishers.
黑料社encourages legal publishers to provide non-aggregated, targeted usage statistics in compliance with the COUNTER Codes of Practice.

IV. Issues relating to publisher practices and services

Many of the publishing and customer services issues that are most critical to law librarians are covered by the听黑料社Guide to Fair Business Practices听and the听Principles & Practices for Licensing Electronic Resources, noted above. The intent of the vendor relations policy is not to reproduce all those issues but rather to cite the resources that are already policy by virtue of their publication and adoption by the Executive Board.

Following is a list of additional issues that have been identified for advocacy with legal publishers:

黑料社supports transparency of prices and pricing structures for all media and formats.
黑料社supports simplified licensing models and pricing structures for e-books.
黑料社encourages legal publishers to seek explicit customer consent before shipping materials that supplement or are related to other services to which a library customer subscribes.
黑料社encourages legal publishers to consult with law library customers on significant potential publication changes, e.g. format, frequency, etc.
黑料社encourages legal publishers to coordinate the release of print and electronic versions of their publications.
黑料社encourages legal publishers to partner with companies providing electronic resource discovery and management systems to shared library customers, for improved bibliographic control and access to publisher products and services.
黑料社encourages legal publishers to allow their content to be discovered through the federated search engines implemented by their library customers.
黑料社encourages legal publishers to support standardized electronic data interchange for transmission of orders, invoices, claims and other related correspondence.
黑料社encourages legal publishers to maintain support for law library customers by assigning service representatives who have a knowledge and understanding of all product lines and familiarity with individual library accounts.
黑料社encourages legal publishers to maintain subscriber-paid content throughout the term of the subscriber’s contract and not allow that content to disappear from future contracts without notice.