Dialog eLinks document delivery pilot

Ben Toth, Director of the National Knowledge Service, has been in negotiation with the Copyright Licensing Agency over the NHS copyright license. Unfortunately no agreement has been reached and the NHS will no longer have a license.

At this stage it is not clear how this will impact on the National Library for Health’s strategic aim to develop a national document delivery service. I am currently managing a NKS funded document requesting pilot based on Dialog eLinks. This system has taken 6 months to develop and is being rolled out across the northwest.

With the end of the copyright license, I am unclear about the legal position of an automated system. For this reason I have decided that the document requesting functionality of the Dialog eLinks system is to be disconnected with immediate effect. I sincerely hope that this is a temporary disconnection and that once legal advice is sort and given, the system can be re-activated. Clearly this is a huge disappointment, but until I know better, it is the only option available.

The uploading of paper journal holding into eLinks is still possible and guidance notes on how to do this will be available in the next few days. I would still encourage all library managers to upload their journal holding, so their users can see that a journal is held in their local library. It is only the requesting functionality that should not be switched on.

I would like to thank Ingrid Evans, Steve Glover, Gavin Coney and the Dialog development team for all their hard work over the last 6 months. Work that I hope can be re-activated soon.

NHS communiqué on copyright

Ben Toth, Director of the National Knowledge Service, has been negotiating with the Copyright Licensing Agency regarding the NHS Copyright License. Below is a communiqué from the NKS. The National Library for Health is keen to hear your views on the current situation. Please send any comments to consultation@cfh.nhs.uk. All views will be collated and a report will be submitted to the National Knowledge Service.
National Knowledge Service communiqué

[begins]

Dear Colleague

The NHS has not been able to meet the financial expectations of CLA and as a result the NHS Copyright Licence will not be renewed. We understand this will have an impact on library activities and have only taken this step because of the extreme pressures on NHS budgets.

We will be writing to you again early next week, and also to NHS Chief Executives with options on how to minimise impact on the NHS.

Ben Toth

[ends]

Copyright

You may be aware of the Publishers Licensing Society statement regarding the NHS and that the NHS is no longer covered by a copyright license. I can assure you that Ben Toth is currently in negotiations with the CLA and I will issue a more detailed communication as soon as possible. I am currently seeking advice on the correct guidance to provide library managers and their respective organisations.