Shared E-Resource Understanding (SERU)

[Cynthia Hodgson <chodgson@niso.org>]

The "Shared Electronic Resource Understanding" is a Recommended 
Practice document from the National Information Standards 
Organization (NISO). It offers publishers and librarians the 
opportunity to save both the time and the costs associated with a 
negotiated and signed license agreement by agreeing to operate 
within a framework of shared understanding and good faith. The 
document (RP-7-2008) is available for free download here: 
http://www.niso.org/workrooms/seru. The website also provides 
additional materials to help publishers and libraries adopt a 
SERU approach including a registry of publishers who wish to use 
SERU with any of their products and librarians who would like to 
request that SERU apply to some of their products.

The lastest addition to the SERU Registry is Taylor & Francis, a 
leading international academic publisher. Margaret Donahue 
Walker, North American Journals Sales Director for Taylor & 
Francis stated on joining, "SERU doesn't do away with contracts. 
It just sets mutually implicit terms and conditions if we chose 
to forego the long process of negotiating a full license 
agreement. Many of our current customers and consortia contacts 
are signed up, as well. This means we can expedite orders and 
deliver content to end users without delay."

If you would like more information on using SERU or joining the 
registry, please contact Karen Wetzel, NISO Standards Program 
Manager, kwetzel@niso.org.

Note: This message was cross-posted.

Cynthia Hodgson
NISO Technical Editor Consultant
National Information Standards Organization
Email: chodgson@niso.org