In the print information world, purchasing books in a library includes rights both to own them and to access to them. In an information world, access to electronic resources often takes place within the confines of a license that defines appropriate use over a specified period of time. Most of these electronic resources are governed by license agreements. This paper describes recent licensing issues which remain unresolved in the area of business model, archive, and fair use and also investigates formal evaluation criteria for developing electronic resources in a library. This study provides licensing principles and considerations for managing the licensing of electronic resources.