Discovery Licensing Clinic

9 May 2012, Birmingham

The first Discovery Licensing Clinic brought together representatives from across the libraries, archives and museums sector. The aim of the day was to come up with practical approaches in response to the Discovery open licensing principles, harnessing the guidance and expertise of assembled experts:

• Francis Davey (Barrister)
• Naomi Korn (Copyright Consultant)
• Paul Miller (Cloud of Data)
• Chris Banks (University Librarian & Director, Library, Special Collections & Museums, University of Aberdeen)

Specific objectives were to demystify licensing options, consider their differing purposes, and discuss the range of tactics that institutions might adopt in scoping metadata releases and making the associated licensing decisions.

There was a practical focus throughout the day on identifying and addressing key issues in real service settings, leading to the development of feasible action plans. Roundtable clinic sessions addressed questions such as:

• Why would my institution do it?
• What records would I license and what data in those records?
• What release channels are available? (e.g. aggregators)
• Choosing the right licence
• Assessing and mitigating any risk
• Writing and publicising your licence
• Satisfying the responsibilities

Post-event resources:

• Brief event report on the Discovery blog
• Chris Banks’ blogpost reflecting on the event
• Chris Banks’ presentation slides