For immediate release | October 19, 2012

An authoritative guide for licensing information resources and services in libraries

CHICAGO — In “The Librarian's Legal Companion for Licensing Information Resources and Services,” published by Neal-Schuman Publishers, legal expert Tomas A. Lipinski offers a definitive sourcebook for information licensing in libraries, including copyright and contract matters, general contract law concepts, developments in online and information contracting and the advantages and disadvantages of licensing. Readers will find clear guidance on deciphering the legalese in agreements, advice on negotiating or countering provisions with library-friendly alternatives and detailed explanations of specific licenses as well as a discussion of issues regarding online and information contracting. Additionally, three special sections provide valuable information in an easy-to-reference format:

  • Deconstructions of four common license agreements: Access Newspaper Archive, BioOne, Nature Academic and Amazon.com Kindle;
  • Answers to 126 questions about specific licensing agreements, plus a glossary and a checklist and review tool for evaluating a license agreement;
  • 20 key issues in licensing agreements, accompanied by sample clauses.

Lipinski has worked in a variety of legal settings, including the private, public, and nonprofit sectors. He taught at the American Institute for Paralegal Studies and at Syracuse University College of Law. In summers he is a visiting professor at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. From 1999 to 2003, during summers, he taught at the Department of Information Science, School of Information Technology, at the University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa. Professor Lipinski was the first named member of the Global Law Faculty, Faculty of Law, University of Leuven (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven), Belgium, in fall 2006, where he continues to lecture annually at its Centre for Intellectual Property Rights and Interdisciplinary Centre for Law and ICT. Prior to becoming Executive Associate Dean at Indiana University School of Library and Information Science, in 2011, he was Director of the MLIS program at the School of Information Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. Beginning in January 2013, he will be Director of the School of Library and Information Science, Kent State University in Ohio. Author of "The Complete Copyright Liability Handbook for Librarians and Educators," he researches, teaches, publishes, and speaks widely on issues relating to information and Internet law and policy, especially copyright in schools, libraries, and other information settings. He holds a law degree from Marquette University, a master of laws degree from the John Marshall Law School, and a doctorate in library and information science from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.

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