License agreement

The license agreements related to the e-resources are binding private commercial agreements between the parties, usually signed between the publisher (named licensor), which holds the copyright rights, and the institution or consortium (named licensee) who subscribes to the resource access service and acquires certain rights.
Contracts define and regulate the terms, conditions, and usage rights of the service, typically in relation to a particular site or platform to the digital content subject(?) of the subscription.

The typical scheme of a license agreement includes several sections and clauses, among which the most relevant for the library services are the following:

• Authorized users
• Permitted and unauthorized use
• Specific clauses (es. confidentiality, document delivery, open access, perpetual access)
• Duration of the contract
• Access to the licensed material
• Contractors obligations, guarantees and indemnities

The possibility for libraries to perform the Document Delivery service (usually referred to in licenses as Interlibrary Loan) must be explicitly permitted by the license agreement: conditions, obligations and limitations of the service are described in the homonymous clause or in the permitted or unauthorized uses section.