Vendor Expectations

Electronic Resources Management (ERM) Team Declaration of Vendor Expectations

The University of Rochester Libraries partners with vendors who support the needs of the communities we serve and deliver the best value for our investment. We expect vendors to work with us in good faith to honor the expectations outlined below. We reevaluate partnerships with vendors who consistently fail to meet these expectations.

Communication

We require all partners to provide details that allow us to make informed decisions and adhere to the elements of the Renewal Communication Template.

We require that partners refrain from contacting faculty or researchers directly and adhere to the communication list below.

Contacts

University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry

Renewal Information:
Elizabeth Merkle
Send Email
Invoicing:
Jennifer McCarthy
Send Email 

Sibley Music Library, Eastman School of Music

Contact:
Sandy Lemmon
Send Email 

University of Rochester

Renewal Information:
Kristin Moo
Send Email 

Invoicing:
Sharon Briggs
Send Email 

Renewal Communication Format Template

To ensure appropriate review and clarity of process on both sides, the University of Rochester Libraries' ERM Committee has established the following renewal communication format template, which is required for all resource renewals of $20K or higher. This communication will be completed by all vendor and publisher partners in renewals that meet the cost criteria. As expressed in our Service and Communication standards, we require the following information be provided 60 days prior to renewal decision.

Product(s) Name:
Renewal Term:
Proposed Renewal Cost:
Past Year Renewal Cost:
Percentage Change:
Renewal response date:

Equity and Inclusion

Accessibility
Create products that conform to U.S. federal and state standards and industry best practices on web accessibility, including the latest version of the W3C’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

Commitment
Publicly endorse the Joint Statement of Principles from the Coalition for Diversity & Inclusion in Scholarly Communications.

Diversity
Provide resources that reflect and support diverse communities, needs, and perspectives, including of Black, indigenous, Latinx, LGBTQIA, and other minoritized groups.

Privacy
Never disclose personal data to third parties. Immediately alert users and institutions in the event of data breach.

Respect
Honor the rights and sensitivities of persons and groups whose scholarly works, primary sources, or cultural artifacts are being monetized. If you make extremist or other problematic works available, provide context. Do not try to appear neutral.

Openness

Self-archiving
Allow authors to deposit their accepted manuscripts in disciplinary and institutional repositories and personal websites without embargo periods.

Transparency
Develop pricing schema based on clearly defined and consistent criteria and communicate and apply this pricing fairly across the board.

Open access
Publicly commit to flipping the subscription model to open access and partner with libraries to create flexible, cost-neutral models for transforming scholarly communication, such as read-and-publish agreements and membership discounts.

DRM free
Products must have no digital rights management (DRM) restrictions and make it easy for users to download, print, and share content with one another.

Intellectual freedom
Never attempt to censor or subvert the right of persons and institutions to make public criticisms of individuals, companies, or behavior.

Innovation
Offer flexible acquisition models (single-title evidence-based, demand-driven, et al.) and partner with libraries to pilot and evaluate these models.

Performance Standards

Discovery
Work with discovery service providers to facilitate discovery and delivery of content. Conform to the NISO Open Discovery Initiative Recommended Practice.

Holdings
Vendors must properly activate and record acquired content and provide title lists and accurate holdings updates in conformance with standards such as KBART.

Linking
Conform to the most current version of the OpenURL standard (ANSI/NISO Z39.88) and provide persistent links to content at the resource and item level.

Metadata
If applicable, vendors must provide complete metadata records for acquired content. Records must conform to industry standards such as MARC and RDA.

Transfers and withdrawals
Conform to the Transfer Code of Practice and must provide advance notice and, if applicable, pro rata refunds for any withdrawn content.

Usage reporting
Provide comprehensive, accurate, and timely usage reports that conform to industry standards such as COUNTER and SUSHI.

Other standards
Conform to other industry standards, including the OpenURL standard for interlinking between platforms, the Transfer Code of Practice, and more.

Sustainability

Continuing costs
No hosting fees are charged for content purchased in perpetuity. No hidden fees are present. Subscription inflationary increases never to exceed 3 percent.

Perpetuity
Vendors must provide perpetual rights to content wherever possible.

Preservation
Vendors must deposit content with a trusted third-party escrow system such as Portico and should support other archiving and preservation solutions.

Viability
Vendors should demonstrate a business model that enables their long-term surviving and thriving—but one that does not generate excessive profits.

Technology

Authentication
Vendors must support user authentication and authorization through industry-standard methods, including IP addresses and EZproxy.

Encryption
Run industry-standard encryption protocols by default on all web products and services, in order to safeguard the personal data of users.

Interoperability
Design products that work with all major web browsers and that adjust automatically to screen size, enabling equitable access for people using mobile devices.

References
Citations should accompany each item, be available in citation styles such as APA and MLA, and export to reference managers, including Zotero, EndNote, and RefWorks.

Searchability
Robust keyword and advanced search functionalities are built into all user-facing platforms. Text is rendered with optical character recognition (OCR).

Uptime
Web products should be available and fully functional at least 99% of the time.

Usability
User interfaces are easy and intuitive to navigate for varying skill levels.

Users & Uses

Users
Authorized users must include all university faculty, staff, students, affiliates, visiting scholars, and other valid university ID-holders, as well as persons physically present on campus.

Uses
Licenses must authorize copying, printing, displaying, text and data mining, limited republication, incorporation into course packs and reserves, and scholarly sharing.

Sites
Vendors must agree that the University of Rochester, including Medical Center and School of Music, constitute a single geographic site for the purposes of licensing and pricing.

Concurrent use
Vendors must allow unlimited simultaneous users to access content.

Fair use
Vendors must agree that no license may supersede or diminish fair use rights.

Interlibrary loan
Vendors must authorize interlibrary loan (ILL), including international ILL and the lending of whole ebooks, subject only to U.S. copyright law.

Remote access
Vendors must provide means for remote access that respect user privacy and work with library systems.

 UR Declaration of Vendor Expectations by University of Rochester ERM team is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.