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Confidentiality Clauses in License Agreements
The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) is encouraging its members not to sign confidentiality clauses/agreements that prevent them from sharing information in their digital licenses. The press release states that openness in agreements will result in better terms and conditions for libraries.
See the ARL press release at http://www.arl.org/news/pr/nondisclosure-5june09.shtm.
I’m of the general opinion that competition and markets are more efficient/better if more information is available to potential participants. Confidentiality agreements hamper this. So I agree with the ARL position in encouraging libraries not to sign them so that other libraries can benefit from better and more complete information.
By the way, the link is bringing up a 404 (not found) error. I hunted up the correct link:
http://www.arl.org/news/pr/nondisclosure-5june09.shtml