Talis Aspire Digitised Content and the CLA Higher Education Licence 2016-2019
The new Higher Education Licence 2016-2019 licence is out and there are a number of welcome changes, especially the changes to reporting. You can read our summary from our previous blog post on what you need to know. We have been working to review the implications for possible improvements to Talis Aspire Digitised Content (TADC).
We’d like to discuss some of those changes which have an implication for TADC and the changes and improvements we think they may shape.
Extent limits
The extent limits for copying has been changed in the new licence to one book chapter or one journal article or 10%, whichever is greater. We have already implemented the necessary changes to TADC to address this as part of our release on 21st July 2016, and will affect requests raised from 1st August 2016 when the new licence comes into effect.
Removal of the requirement to assign Designated Persons
We will be removing this functionality from the settings area and removing reference to designated person from the coversheet. We aim to implement this change by September 2016.
Reduced burden of Reporting & Requirements checking
The new CLA HE licence, as per Clause 7.3, allows software applications or technology solutions “to perform some or all of the Data Collection Scheme on behalf of the Licensee”. We are working with the CLA to become a Third Party Technology Provider (TPTP) as part of the TPTP licence they have introduced.
This means that TADC will be able to automate the licence reporting process and requirements checks (weeding).
Reporting
For reporting, we will share (with permission from our customers) the relevant digitisation data on a monthly basis to the CLA. This means that the annual reporting which would typically occur in June of next year (2017 and beyond) does not need to be carried out manually by TADC customers.
We are already collecting and storing all the relevant data which needs to be sent to the CLA. We are currently awaiting the detailed specifications from the CLA on how they would like this data transmitted to them. Once we receive these details from the CLA we can implement the necessary functionality to remove the need to comply with the standard license reporting requirements for our TADC users.
Requirements checks
Changes to the annual requirements check (‘weeding’) mean that TADC can now automate this process. The repertoire check will no longer be manually initiated, but automated.
Additionally, the system will perform the access/usage checks which determine the requirement checks. The requirement of the TPTP agreement is that access is disabled to any item which fails the repertoire or usage check. We anticipate that the manually initiated rollover workflow in TADC will be automated. We expect the need for a workflow or report in TADC to help HEIs understand and manage these exceptions which may occur after the automated checks have been performed. We will be talking to customers to understand what is important when reviewing the outcomes of the automated requirements checks. To be clear, we are unable to automate the repertoire and access check for digitisations that fall into 2015/16 and they should be carried out as normal. From 2016/17 these annual checks will be automated in TADC.
We are in the process of reviewing and designing how the automated process will be achieved. Also, the CLA Check Permissions API against which these checks can be performed is currently expected to be available on the 1st August 2017. We are aiming to have the automation in place by next summer.
Changes under review
Ability to share
The CLA’s TPTP licence makes provision for TADC to enable its users to share a scan that has already been uploaded by other HE licensees. This means it is possible to expand the TADC vault search to include scans uploaded by other institutions. At this point, we have been informed by the CLA that TADC cannot search and reuse from the DCS or vice versa. We will work to understand the importance of this capability with our customers base in order to determine how and when to implement any changes related to this benefit. If you are interested in this capability please raise an idea in the ideas forum.
Duration of course
Where the requirements checks prove that a digitisation is still required, then it can remain available so all students on the degree can continue to access it. We don’t anticipate any specific changes to TADC beyond those discussed with regard to Requirements checks. Additionally, by downloading a scan, this provides the student access to the digitisation for the duration of their degree programme. We will continue to review the importance of this among our customer base.
As always, we will work closely with our customer to understand their needs as we design and implement these changes. If you have any questions, please do contact us or read the FAQs we have put together.
How do you anticipate the recent license changes to impact your digitised content service? What changes are you most excited about? Share and let us know in the comments below.
