License Statuses

Licenses are used to support the development and hosting of works on the publishing platform. A project’s license status depends on its stage in the publishing process:

• Developmental Licenses
  • A project is considered to be in development if authors are actively making progress—such as adding or editing content—or have communicated a clear timeline or plan for completion.
  • Developmental licenses require regular activity or updates from the authors. If no progress is made and no planned course of action is communicated for more than 6 months, the project will be considered inactive.
  • For inactive projects, the branch point person (see TAMU Branch Contacts) will contact the authors to determine their plans. If no response or progress occurs within 90 days, the license will be reclaimed and reallocated to a project in need.
• Published Licenses
  • A project is considered published once the authors press the “publish” button to make the work publicly accessible. Published books are no longer in development and do not require ongoing activity to maintain their licenses.
  • Authors may make small updates or corrections (e.g., fixing typos) without affecting the published license status.
  • Published works will retain their licenses as long as they remain publicly available and aligned with the Shared Network’s guidelines.

Note: The TAMU Libraries OpenEd team actively monitors developmental licenses and collaborates with campuses to ensure effective use of resources. For authors working directly with TAMU Libraries OpenEd, such as those without campus-level support, we offer additional guidance to help their projects progress toward publication. Please feel free to contact us (OpenEdHelp@tamu.edu) if you have any questions or concerns.