Tag Archives: publisher negotiations

Upcoming negotiations: Lexis-Nexis

Lexis-Nexis (also called Nexis Uni) is a database of news, business and legal sources. Our current contract ends July 1, 2023. We are currently working on an addendum to the standard contract. In particular, we want to amend this contract to align with this principle:

Confidentiality of user data generated by their use of licensed materials must be maintained. Usage data must not be disclosed or sold to any third party without prior consent. 

In recent years, several news reports have surfaced raising concerns about how this company uses and shares user data. In light of these reports, and related lawsuits, we believe that this addendum is necessary. If Lexis-Nexis is unwilling to include an addendum that provides these protections, we will not move forward with a contract. We will share more information as it becomes available.

Negotiation Update:

As of July 1st, 2023, Oregon State University Libraries was not able to negotiate changes to the terms and conditions of the Nexis Uni contract to protect user privacy. This means we no longer have a subscription to the Nexis Uni database. Please consult our library research guides to find alternative newspaper and legal case access.

Town Hall with the Dean of Libraries

Dean of Libraries Anne-Marie Deitering will host a one-hour town hall on February 27 from 4 to 5 p.m. via Zoom to share information about the actions the library has taken to support OSU researchers access Elsevier content, discuss the data the library has been gathering to inform future negotiations with Elsevier, and answer questions about the negotiations and the scholarly publishing landscape more broadly.

See the Provost’s message for more information.

OSU to pause Elsevier negotiations

Librarians from OSU, UO and PSU each decided on behalf of their respective institutions to pause negotiations with Elsevier for the remainder of 2022. This means that each institution’s contract with Elsevier will end 12/31/2022.

Message from Provost Ed Feser to the OSU community

Message from the Dean of Libraries to the OSU community

Shared Values – Elsevier negotiation

We traveled down to Eugene on Wednesday, May 18 to meet with representatives from Elsevier. We are collaboratively negotiating with librarians from the University of Oregon and Portland State. In our discussions prior to this meeting, we identified several shared values. These values align nicely with the values articulated in OSU Libraries’ negotiating principles.

SUSTAINABILITY

Our universities’ contributions to Elsevier’s product are ongoing and substantial. However, historical pricing models do not reflect: The academic labor of authors, reviewers and editors; The value of the APC’s paid by our authors; The increasing amount of open access content in Elsevier packages; or the fact that we continue to pay, year after year, for older materials that have depreciated in value. For each of our institutions, readership trends contradict any claim that the practice of adding titles we did not request adds value. We will prioritize agreements that provide fair and transparent pricing for the content our communities need.

ACCESS

As Oregon’s largest public research universities, our missions include service to the state of Oregon. We will prioritize investments that ensure broad access to the research we produce and to the resources we license.

SHARING AND USE

Inquiry depends on the right to use and share information. We are committed to agreements that uphold authors’ rights to use and share their own research, and to deposit articles in institutional repositories. We are committed to agreements that support our right to share resources with libraries, and that support efforts to build sustainable infrastructure to support sharing.

ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY

As public institutions with broad service missions, and as libraries acting on behalf of those institutions, we must be transparent and accountable to our communities. We will prioritize agreements that reflect this commitment. We are committed to a transparent negotiation, we will not sign non-disclosure agreements, and we will share details whenever possible to be accountable to our local and professional communities.