Adoption of NISO’s Shared Electronic Resource Understanding (SERU) at US Academic Libraries

Abstract

Following the emergence of electronic resources (e-resources), librarians developed licensing guidelines, standards, models, and understandings to educate, increase efficiencies, and retain rights afforded by copyright law. To reduce licensing burdens, the National Information Standards Organization (NISO) released the Shared E-Resource Understanding (SERU) in 2008, a set of “understandings” created and agreed upon by libraries and vendors. The author conducted a survey in 2017 of licensing practices and SERU use at libraries. The survey analyzed 108 responses from US academic libraries signing at least one license in the twelve months preceding the survey.