1. Key negotiation
techniques
SANLiC Negotiation & Licensing Workshop 2013-05
Jason Price, PhD
Interim Director, Claremont Colleges Library
E-resource Consultant, Statewide Calif Electronic Lib
Consortium

2. Negotiation
1. is a basic means for getting what you want from
others
2. occurs when there are differences between the
needs of the buyer and seller
3. is a “back and forth”, “give and take” process
which often involves a “compromise” - a
settlement in which each side gives something
up in order to gain something else
• Pricing negotiation seeks to reach equilibrium
between what the vendor charges and what our
libraries are willing to pay
• License negotiation seeks to reach equilibrium
between the ideal terms for the library and the
ideal terms for the vendor

3. Minisurvey: Our negotiation experience
Frequency of vendor negotiation
At least once a year
At least once a quarter
At least once a month
Negotiation type
Mostly licensing
Mostly pricing
About equal
Self assessment of negotiation skill
Above average
Average
Below average

4. Two common styles
War Room: „Win-Lose‟
More common at the consortium level
Especially among all or nothing consortia
May lead to better prices in some cases
Not likely to lead to collaboration
Scott Boras, New Yorker 29-Oct-07
Compromise: „Win-Win‟
More common at the library level
Built on relationships
Shapiro, Power of Nice, how to negotiate so everyone
wins
Getting to Yes, by Roger Fisher and William Ury, Harvard
Negotiation Project

5. Negotiation techniques:
Do‟s and Dont‟s
Ed Brodow / Jed R. Mandel / Sue
Barrett
Highly unscientific web search for top 10
negotiating tips
Conventional wisdom that‟s surprisingly
helpful
Our first workshop exercise…

6. 1. Do your homework / Be prepared (4)
2. (Shut up and) Listen (3)
3. Aim high… Don‟t be afraid to ask… (4)
4. Don‟t be in a hurry… Be patient (3)
a. Don‟t make the first move (1)
b. Don‟t accept the first offer (1)
c. Don‟t negotiate against yourself! (2)
d. Focus on the other side‟s pressure
5. There‟s no substitute for discussion (1)
6. Meet in the middle
a. Make sure both parties needs are satisfied (2)
b. Don‟t make unilateral concessions (2)
7. Be willing to walk away – have a plan B (3)
8. Don‟t take issues or other person‟s behavior personally
(1)

7. Prepare
Do your homework
Know what you want!

8. http://www.theauroracrossing.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/listen.jpg
Ask
questions…
…you already know the answer
to!

9. Used without
permission…
Don‟t be afraid to ask…

10. http://goo.gl/axfyccommons.wikimedia.org

11. Used without

12. commons.wikimedia.org http://goo.gl/LVdn0

13. http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9G
cQHUAjV1VXB-
dZiSThyEWtmkzUIR_sJZG9IZKI1s0P8AP
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commons.wikimedia.org http://goo.gl/FZhVa

15. Additional notes
Practice, Practice, Practice
Find a mentor
Remember than „No‟ is the right path to „yes‟!
Humor is a crucial ingredient
Use data!
Look for opportunities to negotiate, they‟re
everywhere!

16. Practical Applications
Making the most of a budget crisis
Subscriptions vs Purchase
Access fees
Ebook shared archive packages
Intractable negotiations

18. Ebook collection
subscription vs purchase
Publisher A Publisher B
Totalspent

19. Access fees
*Access Fees: think about the long term
costs
access fee increase caps
what are you paying for?
repurchase point
At least 20 years
Equivalent to break even point for a $40 book
20 years at $2/yr

20. Ebooks - Know the publisher Profit & Loss
calculations
2 years after a book is published, the expected
sales drop to zero
Backfiles should be incredibly cheap

21. Other practical applications
Don’t pay until you have what you want
Software under development
Annual access list updates
License negotiations!
Use peer pressure - what do other companies do?
Case study: Journal backfile pricing (per page)
Case study: Readex annual access fees
Hold off for a better deal
Wrong Model: Proquest‟s New York Times index
Unsettled pricing: ebooks and simultaneous use
restrictions

22. When no is the only
acceptable answer
3x price increase

23. Think outside the list
Converting Elsevier‟s Unique title list to a Shared
title list
Price JS. 2006. Making the most of a "big deal”
Charleston conference proceedings, 2005

24. Questions?
http://visualcv.com/lpq4t1s

25. SANLiC N&L Workshop part
2: Essentials of License
negotiation
I. Applying the checklist & SANLiC model license
(60m)
a. Review checklist and highlight model license (10m)
b. Use checklist to evaluate sample license (10m)
c. Groups improve language for key sections (20m)
d. Groups report their results (20m)
II. Aggregator Ebook access & usage
permissions (35m)
a. Individual review of EBL terms (10m)
b. Paired discussion of observations (10m)
c. Sharing, Q&A and discussion

26. My Perspective &
Assumptions
 Your library is extremely unlikely to be
sued over license terms
 Licenses should be used as tools to
achieve our ends
 It is appropriate to focus on key terms
& skip most of the “legalese”

27. Licensing essentials1-2-3
① Which researchers are authorised?
② What can authorised researchers
do?
③ What is your library responsible for?

28. ① Which researchers are
authorised?
 Relatively standard
◦ Faculty / Students / Staff on-campus
◦ Walk-in Users
◦ Faculty / Students / Staff off-campus
◦ Alumni off-campus
 When available, usually requires an additional
fee
 Q: Has anyone considered negotiating for 1
year free off campus access after graduation?
◦ Restricted simultaneous use
 How are they authorised?
◦ IP Range, proxy server, Shibboleth
◦ Geolocation: a potentially emerging

29. ② What can researchers do with the content?
Standard Less Common
 Access, Browse, view
 Print
 Save
 Use in Reserves
 Access after subs‟ ends
 [Send via Secure ILL (but
for ebooks?…)]
 Scholarly sharing
 Email ILL
 Course packs
 Share/create links to
content

30. ③ What is the library responsible
for?
 Maintaining its budget?
 Predicting the future?
 Researcher behavior?
 Communicating license terms?✔✔

31. License evaluation Checklist
 Indication
◦ (AE) Allowed explicitly
◦ (AI) Allowed [interpreted]
◦ (S) Silent
◦ (XI) Prohibited [interpreted]
◦ (XE) Prohibited explicitly

32. Model License Review (10m)
 Review terms and highlight those
included in the checklist

33. Sample license review (10
min)
 Note that sample license includes 2
licenses
◦ Terms of Sale & Access agreement
 Apply checklist to sample license

34. Group exercise (20 min)
 Each person take a few minutes to
review the section in the sample license:
◦ What‟s present that you object to?
◦ What‟s absent that you require?
 Work as a group to
◦ Decide which term(s) to tackle
◦ Improve the terms staying as close to the
original as possible – We‟ll share with the
whole group

35. EBL License review
I. Aggregator Ebook access & usage
permissions (35m)
a. Individual review of EBL terms (10m)
a. (not on the checklist…)
b. Paired discussion of observations (10m)
c. Sharing, Q&A and discussion

36. Questions?
http://visualcv.com/lpq4t1s