CARLI E-Resources Brokering Program Values

CARLI has certain requirements for vendors for inclusion in our electronic resources brokering program.  Below are some details about how we select vendors for inclusion in our program as well as our values that we expect from the vendors we work with.

Contents

How we work
What we provide to Vendors
What we need from Vendors
E-Resources Proposals
Things CARLI Values
What we do not Provide

How We Work

The E-resources Brokering Program primarily works with products falling under the library content exemption of Illinois Procurement Act, “Procurement expenditures for periodicals, books, subscriptions, database licenses, and other publications procured for use by a university library”. Products that are not library content, but tools, must go through a separate, labor-intensive RFP or sole source process that is generally outside the scope of the e-resources brokering program.

Vendors are assigned one of 2 cycles, either Fiscal Year (July 1 - June 30), or Calendar Year (Jan 1 - Dec 31).  Cycle determination is based upon numerous factors, including CARLI workload, the product type, and vendor preference.

While we do not have a firm threshold as to the number of libraries that must subscribe to a brokered product, we want to make sure the level of participation is worth CARLI’s time to negotiate.  CARLI staff have the final say as to if we think there is sufficient interest and price savings to move forward negotiating a contract.

In recent years, CARLI has surveyed member libraries in late summer to gauge interest in electronic resources.  The results inform us about what products and vendors are of interest to our members.

CARLI contracts are typically for 5 years, with libraries making an annual subscription commitment.  We do not have multi-year commitments.

Most of our contracts are for subscription content.  We can include one-time purchases by libraries if we know there is sufficient interest.

We currently have no funding for additional centralized subscriptions or consortial purchases for our members.  All contracts are opt-in or opt-out by individual libraries.  If we do get funding for centralized purchases, we will reach out to vendors directly.

What we provide to Vendors

Streamlined and transparent communication, pricing, commitments, and invoicing; vendors only need to send CARLI one invoice for all subscriptions.  CARLI will quickly process a single check and do the work to get payments from individual libraries.

One license covers all CARLI member libraries.

CARLI uses Consortia Manager as a centralized portal for vendor data, products, prices, and licensing.

Access to our members’ e-resources contacts.

CARLI can forward communications to our members’ listservs from vendors, including product information and professional development.

CARLI staff provide first level support for many customer questions, reducing libraries’ need to contact vendors.

Advice; CARLI has worked with many vendors and libraries over the years.  We can share what has worked and what has not among Illinois libraries.  CARLI also has a good understanding of member library resources.

What we need from Vendors

CARLI’s proposal form.  The data in this form is considered public information.

Product list and pricing model.  Send this separately.  This is confidential between CARLI staff and our Commercial Products Committee members.  If this is not provided with the initial proposal, CPC will almost certainly defer discussion on the proposal until it has an idea about pricing.

Consortial discount from list pricing model.

List of current subscribers among CARLI membership.

An assurance that existing customers will get an incentive or discount for moving to a consortial license.

E-Resources Proposals

It can take months to negotiate a contract with CARLI.  CARLI staff work out much of the library specific clauses with vendors, then pass the contract on to the University of Illinois System Purchasing department, where a review can take upwards of six weeks.  If Purchasing deems a contract needs to be reviewed by University Legal, that can take an additional 6+ weeks. 

Since this process is very staff intensive, we want to make sure our vendors not only share CARLI values but also have interest from a wide variety of CARLI members.  

Once the proposal form is submitted, it is passed on to CARLI’s Commercial Products Committee (CPC) for discussion in their monthly meetings.  CPC meets monthly and is made up of a diverse group of librarians from the different categories of CARLI Membership (community colleges, private schools, research institutions, etc.).  The main focus of CPC is to review proposals and advise CARLI staff on the e-resources brokering program.  

CARLI also recommends vendors reach out to individual libraries before submitting a proposal to CARLI.  If libraries are aware of and interested in products before CARLI has a proposal, it helps to inform CPC’s decision making.  Also, libraries who are interested in a new product will often contact CARLI to see if we have an agreement, which shows us there is interest among our members.

Things CARLI Values

Open, prompt, and professional communication between CARLI, libraries, and vendors.

Ability to prorate subscriptions if a library desires to subscribe after start of fiscal/calendar year.

Transparent pricing: pricing should be based upon an externally vetted variable (we strongly prefer full time enrollment data from the Illinois Board of Higher Education).  Complicated pricing formulas based on other variables must be disclosed.

We ask vendors to offer CARLI the lowest pricing available in Illinois; pricing can match another consortium, but we cannot enter an agreement if libraries can get better pricing elsewhere.

CARLI does not give discounts for multiple subscriptions without approval.  We also do not allow one-time discounts because discounted pricing should be available to all libraries and becomes the new base price. 

We negotiate price caps in all contracts, so libraries have predictable annual increases.  Our goal is for increases to be less than 5%.

No personal or library accounts or click through licenses required to access a resource.

Accessibility and privacy are very important to Illinois libraries, and appropriate language must be included in all contracts.

Further details on our Licensing Principles.

What we do not Provide

Sales work.  We’re happy to pass on basic information, but vendor sales representatives know their products better than CARLI. 

CARLI does not organize trials for members.  We currently encourage libraries to work directly with a vendor to trial products.