Negotiated and Standard Licenses

The licensing contracts for electronic resources subscribed by the libraries are private commercial contracts that define and regulate the rights to use a service (the digital access and the distribution of the digital content) acquired by a particular subject (in this case a public institution).

They define the authorized users, the permitted uses and prohibited uses in relation to a specific site or portal (referred to "platform" in ALPE) through which is provided access and consultation of the digital content subject to the license agreement.

The license agreements are usually subject to negotiation between the parties, between the publisher or the vendor/distributor of the electronic periodicals and the consortium or the entity negotiating the contract, and are therefore valid only for the libraries (and their authorized users) who adhere to that particular consortium or entity (Negotiated Licenses).

However publishers on their sites make sample license agreements public, sometimes subdivided by type of subscriber (including academic institution, company, etc.), which can be referenced to know the permitted conditions and uses (so-called "Standard" Licenses).

In the ALPE database are included the Negotiated Licenses, valid and visible, only for libraries that are part of the consortium or entity that has signed the contract, and the so-called "standard" licenses published on the editor's site that are valid as Reference license model for all the libraries that do not negotiate special conditions.