Frequently Asked Questions - Licensing Programme FAQ's
Through the EIFL Licensing programme (EIFL-Licensing), we negotiate with vendors on behalf of partner countries in order to achieve free or highly discounted access, plus fair terms of use. We also work closely with library consortia to promote awareness of available e-resources, and to encourage subscriptions and usage.
For questions, please contact Licensing Programme Manager Britt-Marie Wideberg: britt-marie.wideberg@eifl.net
Step 1: Based on requests and feedback from its partner library consortia, EIFL negotiates multi-year framework agreements with publishers and content aggregators. Browse EIFL-licensed e-resources.
Step 2: EIFL signs contracts with each publisher to secure the prices negotiated for a specific resource, using the EIFL Model Licences as a base. View our model licences.
Step 3: EIFL promotes licensed e-resources to library consortia in EIFL partner countries.
Step 4: Library consortia interested in subscribing to a particular resource sign licensing agreements directly with the publisher.
Step 5: EIFL assists library consortia during the licensing process to ensure licences are completed properly and institutions have stable and static IP addresses.
We have negotiated agreements with over 20 vendors for more than 50 commercial e-resources.
Our portfolio of licensed resources covers a comprehensive range of subject areas and types of content – for example e-journal and e-book collections, and reference and bibliographic databases. Based on content requests and feedback from our partner library consortia, EIFL is continually adding new content.
You can find out whether individual journals are included in collections available through EIFL-negotiated agreements (kobson.nb.rs/eifl) here
EIFL-licensed resources are only available to members of our partner library consortia in eligible countries (i.e. ones covered by agreements for individual resources).
If your institution wishes to take part in an agreement, you should contact the EIFL Licensing Coordinator in your country. They will be able to help you through the process.
However, in general terms, the standard subscription process is as follows. (Please note that it may be slightly different in some cases.)
Eligible institutions need to:
- Review the terms of the relevant licence. The licence is for reference only and does not need to be signed.
- Sign the licence acceptance form.
- Send the signed licence acceptance form either to the EIFL Licensing Coordinator or to the person/address listed on the form.
- Arrange payment (if applicable).
Once payment has been received (if applicable), vendors will notify subscribing institutions/EIFL Licensing Coordinators (as appropriate) by email when access has been set up.
We recommend that institutions save this notification email as it will contain important information about access, how to use the resource, how to change account details (for example IP addresses), and how to generate usage reports
EIFL-negotiated agreements are open to members of our partner library consortia in eligible countries.
The web page for each licensed resource (click here for a list) indicates the list of eligible countries i.e. those that are covered by the agreement.
If your institution is a member of the EIFL partner library consortium in your country and your country is eligible for the resource of your choice, you should be able to subscribe.
Please contact the EIFL Licensing Coordinator in your country for further details.
Please visit the ‘Where we work’ page to locate your country and to access a full list of institutions that are members of the national library consortia. If your institution is not a member and is interested in joining the national library consortia, please contact the EIFL Country Coordinator in your country.
If your institution is a member of the national consortia, and a particular resource is available to your country, please contact the EIFL Licensing Coordinator in your country. They will be able to help you through the subscription process
Pricing is only available to EIFL Licensing Coordinators, however there are some resources that are made free of charge to some countries within our network.
If your institution is eligible to subscribe to a particular resource, please contact the EIFL Licensing Coordinator in your country, and they will be able to advise you about pricing.
Most vendors are pleased to offer 30-day free trials of their resources to institutions that are members of EIFL partner library consortia.
If your institution is interested in a free trial, please contact the EIFL Licensing Coordinator in your country
In FAQ menu, please choose 'ADDITIONAL' -> 'EIFL Model Licences FAQ's' to read more.
Access to commercial e-resources can only be granted via a secure route – ie via the IP address/es of a subscribing institution.
In order to gain access to commercial e-resources, subscribing institutions must provide the static and external/public IP address of their secure network.
Access is not available by username and password as these details can be easily shared, and the resources on offer through EIFL Licensing have a very high commercial value.
IP addresses are allocated to any device participating in a computer network – both private networks and the public internet.
IP addresses can either be internal/private or external/public. An external/public IP address is one that is accessible from the internet. An internal/private IP address is one that is accessible only from the internal institutional network.
Only external/public IP addresses are suitable for providing institutional access to licensed commercial e-resources because they are the only ones that are accessible from the internet.
IP addresses are either static or dynamic. A static IP address is one that is fixed and never changes. Dynamic addresses are assigned every time users log on to the network or internet.
Only static IP addresses are suitable for providing institutional access to licensed commercial e-resources because they don't change.
In order to access commercial e-resources, subscribing institutions must provide vendors with their external/public IP address/es as these are used to access the internet.
The most basic format includes a simple set of 4 blocks of numbers with a minimum of 0.0.0.0 and a maximum of 255.255.255.255 (although neither of these are valid for use for commercial e-resources).
A typical IP address would look like this: 122.140.201.66
IP addresses can also be shown as a range, for example: 122.140.201.66-144 or 122.140.201-205.* (* represents 0-255)
IP addresses can also be shown in CIDR format for example:
122.140.201.0/24 (this represents 122.140.201.*)
For many institutions, the external/public IP address is the address of the proxy server (see Wikipedia entry).
Individual computers which are part of an institutional network may have internal/private IP addresses linking them to the proxy server. Internal/private IP addresses are not visible on the internet so cannot be used to gain access to commercial e-resources.
The following are examples of internal IP address ranges:
10.0.0.0 – 10.255.255.255 (CIDR = 10.0.0.0/8)
172.16.0.0 – 172.31.255.255 (CIDR = 172.16.0.0/12)
192.168.0.0 – 192.168.255.255 (CIDR = 192.168.0.0/16)
We recommend that you ask your IT department to provide you with the external/public IP address/es of your institution's network.
Please note that in order for your institution be able to subscribe to, and access, commercial e-resources, the IP address/es you provide must be external/public, static and only provide access to your institution’s secure network.
Please contact us at subscriptions [at] eifl.net if you have any questions