Heron offers a national service to the UK academic community for copyright clearance, digitisation and delivery of book extracts and journal articles. In addition, Heron has also developed a resource bank of digitised materials for rapid re-use (subject to copyright permissions).

Heron's status as a designated Trusted Repository means that it is entitled to hold copies of CLA-cleared digitised texts. These texts form the basis of Heron's resource bank of archived pre-digitised material. The remaining content comprises copies of material requested through Heron, where the rightsholder has given permission for a master copy to be stored.

No further use is made of material in the archive without express permission from the rightsholder. Storing these texts makes it is easier for subscribers to re-use the material on successive courses without having the expense and delay caused by the digitisation process.

Copyright clearance can be time-consuming and complex. By providing a single point of contact, Heron is able to reduce the administrative workload for both its institutional subscribers and rightsholders.

Heron has spent a considerable amount of time developing a competitively priced digitisation service that produces (where possible) text PDF files, complete with front covers carrying licensing information. We do not lock our 'Blanket Licence' PDFs so you only need to change the front cover to re-use in later years.

Requesting digitisation of material via HERONweb also assures you that your requests are verified for use under the licence – and you can automatically choose to request that the publisher be approached for permission if the requested material is not covered. (Or automatically withdraw any request that is not covered).

In addition, Heron is able to obtain permission for those materials which fall outside the remit of the CLA’s Trial licence. For example, requests for more than one chapter/article from a book/journal issue, and all requests for material which was not published by a UK-based publisher

Institutions that subscribe to Heron are provided with user names and passwords to HeronWeb, a web-based interface for handling users’ requests. Subscribers enter the bibliographic details of the material they are requesting and the details of the courses for which the material is to be provided, using a series of forms on HeronWeb.

When users submit their requests, Heron staff approach the rightsholders for permission to digitise and store the material in the Heron Resource Bank. When permission is granted, Heron staff use HeronWeb to provide the subscriber with an estimate of the final costs.

Once the estimate is accepted Heron will source the extracts from its existing archive (or digitise a new document if necessary) and provide the requesting institution with a copy of the file for them to mount on their secure network.

Subscribing institutions can also use Heron for copyright services only, and do their own digitsation. Or they can bypass the copyright process and request that Heron provides digitial copies of materials already licensed for use under the CLA's Higher Education Trial Photocopying and Scanning Licence.

This is a major part of the service that Heron provides. Heron uses current agreements where they exist; but where they do not, Heron undertakes the time consuming and complex business of tracking down rightsholders and obtaining permission for digitisation and use of the material by the requesting institution.

Heron will use best endeavours to include all illustrations within requested materials, but subscribers should be aware that there are several issues associated with their inclusion:

Where illustrations cannot be included, Heron will leave a gap in the text and insert a line which gives the reason for the ommission, and suggests that the user consult the original document to view the omitted materials.

If the document is not already stored in Heron's resource bank, and subscribers have not indicated that they will supply the copy for digitisation, then a copy is requested from the British Library Document Supply Centre. If the BLDSC cannot supply the document, then other routes are investigated.

Copies of cleared and digitised material are made available to subscribers via the HERONweb interface. Each institution makes the material available to students as best suits their needs. This is subject to the constraints are that material must be held on a secure network (password protected) and any restrictions on usage which are specified by the rightsholder (Subscribers are made aware of terms and conditions through HERONweb when clearances become available).

Times can vary from as little as 24 hours to as much as two months. As increasing numbers of publishers sign up with Heron the number of requests that take more than a month will diminish rapidly.

At 25th April 2006, the following publishers had signed direct mandates with Heron:
Baywood Publishing Company
Bloomsbury
British Psychological Society
The Brookings Institution Press
CABI Publishing
Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development
Earthscan
Emap Healthcare Ltd.
Emerald Publishing Group
International Journal of Psychoanalysis
John Wiley and Sons Ltd
Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins (Books and Nursing Journals)
Open University Press
Oxford University Press Ltd.(Journals)
Pharmaceutical Press
Polity Press
Editions Rodopi BV.
The Royal Society
Spinifex Press
Taylor & Francis Ltd.(Books)
The World Health Organisation

More details are available in the 'Information for Subscribers' section

In setting up a server to give access to digitised materials, there are no hard and fast rules. Virtually any modern server will do the job fairly easily. Storage space isn't really an issue unless an entire short loan collection is being digitised. If an older machine is to be used as a server, the speed and storage capacity may need to be reviewed. Something with a fairly fast clock speed is preferable.

Only authorised users may gain access to the material cleared by Heron, so the set up should be for an intranet rather than internet. Some form of monitoring may be useful to allow evaluation of actual usage on a regular basis. The tools for these activities depend largely on the choice of equipment, operating system and software and Heron cannot offer guidance on how to set this up., although many of Heron's subscribers use a VLE to make the materials available to their students.

There are several parts to Heron costs:

N.B. Copyright and supply fees are only charged on those items which are accepted by and successfully delivered to the requesting institution. The administration fee is applied to all requests submitted to Heron where clearance is obtained unless files are not delivered within the subscriber's stated timescales.

Firstly, subscribers are provided with an estimate of the full cost. This can be accepted or declined, allowing the subscriber to withdraw the request if the cost of a particular extract is too high.

Once a price estimate for a requested item has been accepted, the request cannot be withdrawn unless Heron fails to meet its target of making items "ready to download" within 28 days of your acceptance date. There is also a 14 day approval period during which the file can be returned and only the administration fee is incurred, if the quality of the digitisation should be unacceptable.

Heron provides:

Each institution must:

Each administrator must sign the Heron forms which entitle him/her to use the Heron service.

For more information about joining Heron, please contact:

Helen Bartlett, Copyright Manager
Tel: 01865 799133
Fax: 01865 799134

Heron, Ingenta plc,
23-38 Hythe Bridge Street,
Oxford OX1 2ET

Although rightsholders are understandably concerned about loss of control over their materials in the digital environment, Heron's subscribers are obliged to meet standards of security and are subject to audit. Therefore, rightsholders can feel confident that compliance with copyright conditions is assured where material is licensed through the Heron service.

Working with Heron allows rightsholders to tap into the digital coursepack market with minimum effort. In particular, Heron provides a single point of contact for permission requests from over 50 institutions. This can rationalise the workload of both permissions and accounts staff.

This effect is further enhanced where a direct licence is signed, since Heron can offer a reporting and self-billing facility in respect of requests which have been successfully delivered to subscribing institutions.

Those rightsholders who choose to sign a direct licence with Heron benefit from increased visibility with Heron's subscribers. It is easier for institutional clients to include materials covered by the direct licence in course readings due to the removal of uncertainty over clearance timescales and costs. In addition, subscribers are encouraged to consider using material from direct licences when selecting material that is required at short notice.

With over 70 Further and Higher Education Institutions subscribing, Heron is in a unique position to inform publishers of trends and requirements for digital access in education. Heron can also suggest ways of encouraging use of digital materials within teaching and learning environments.

For more information about working with Heron, please contact:

Helen Bartlett, Copyright Manager
Tel: 01865 799133
Fax: 01865 799134

Heron, Ingenta plc,
23-38 Hythe Bridge Street,
Oxford OX1 2ET

Last updated 15th December 2005