Charged with meeting the information needs of UBC students, staff and faculty, UBC Library spends approximately 84% of its Collections Budget on electronic resources.  In recent years, there has been an increase in requests for computational access to electronic resources, expanding from a simple manual download content and read.  

To help facilitate this need, UBC Library endeavors to include Text and Data Mining (TDM) clauses into the License Agreements it signs with Publishers.  These clauses codify TDM as a permitted use for UBC Authorized Users; however, other clauses within the agreements prohibit the use of robots, spiders, and other types of technology to perform TDM.  Publishers seek control over computational access to their intellectual property, through specific APIs to their platforms and often requiring additional costs.

To discuss this issue, UBC Library has organized two speakers for this seminar.

UBC Counsel Michael Serebriakov will discuss the various aspects involved in negotiating TDM rights in Library licensed electronic resources.  He will also incorporate into the discussion the role Canadian Copyright plays vs contract law.

UBC Digital Scholarship Librarian Ekatarina (Eka) Grguric will present the UBC Library’s Research Guide to help UBC Researchers navigate how to perform TDM on Library licensed electronic resources.  The Guide acts as a central list detailing resources where and how TDM can be performed, and maintains up to date contact information for support services.

Michael Serebriakov is an alumnus of the University of British Columbia, receiving his Bachelor of Arts (Psychology) in 2008. In 2011, Michael obtained his law degree from the University of Toronto and was called to the British Columbia bar in 2012. He practiced corporate law for 4 years before moving to in-house and eventually joining the Office of the University Counsel in 2017. Michael practices in the areas of general commercial law, copyright and procurement, serving a variety of client groups across UBC including the Library, the UBC Press and other journals, and the Faculties of Arts, Education and Forestry.

Ekatarina (Eka) Grguric is the Digital Scholarship Librarian at UBC Library. In this role she supports UBC faculty and graduate students in the planning and implementation of research that engages with digital tools and workflows in new, innovative, or exploratory ways. Her position sits within the UBC Library Research Commons which is a multidisciplinary hub supporting research endeavours, partnerships, and education.