Action Items: CDL

Use these action items and brainstorm other tangible ways to further develop your knowledge of controlled digital lending or consider local adoption of the practice in consultation with legal counsel.

Brainstorm parameters for CDL adoption

Internally discuss and identify what models of CDL would be most appropriate for your institution, library collection, and user community. Establish a preliminary set of best practices to guide its application in preparation for a full discussion with legal counsel.

Discuss potential uses of CDL with local counsel

Proactively engage with your institution’s legal counsel to discuss the practice and explore potential risks, as well as explain how CDL can serve your user community and the educational mission of your institution. 

 

Conduct a preliminary inventory of potential CDL titles

In collaboration with collection development staff, begin a review of your print collection to identify titles that may be more suited to CDL. The parameters of suitable titles will look different for each library as guided by local counsel, but may include titles that are out of print, at risk of deterioration, or unique/special collections with specific usage parameters. 

Test existing CDL/DRM technologies

Connect with vendors to better understand their CDL technologies and request sandbox testing to learn how these technologies could integrate into existing solutions and workflows. Review the System Inventory in the Digital Lending Systems Module.

 

Pilot a limited project to evaluate CDL adoption

In consultation with local counsel guidelines, pilot a small scale effort to test potential workflows for CDL adoption. Public domain works can serve as viable candidates for testing purposes to better understand scanning turnaround times, metadata applications, digital surrogate hosting, and patron user experience.