Checklist to Contribute and License Content

This article walks you through all the steps to contribute and license Bible content into DBL. (Only organizations registered with their country of origin can be a DBL Contributor.)

Overview of Steps to Contribute

1. Sign up to create a DBL user account. Verify your email to activate your account.
2. Create an organization.
3. Apply to be a Contributor organization.
4. After your application is reviewed and approved, please add the roles of Content Manager & License Manager to your organization.
5. Prepare and convert your Bible content into a standardized format used in DBL, namely, Text Formatting, Audio Formatting, or Video Formatting.
6. Upload content to DBL. To prepare all the information required for structuring and describing the content bundle, see the Publishing Dashboard.
7. After uploading, carefully review all the information entered and files uploaded. Be sure the files are properly organized with corresponding meta tags so the content bundle can be used effectively by distributors.
8. Publish the content item using the Publishing Dashboard.

Congratulations! You have successfully contributed your content to the DBL!

Licensing Content as Open Access

Some contributors license a content item as open access using Creative Commons. This allows individuals and distributor organizations in DBL to freely download and distribute the content for use according to the permissions of the license type selected. The steps are as follows:

1. Choose the Creative Commons license type with the permissions you’re allowing for use
2. Create a new agreement for this content item
3. Under the Choose a Template section, go to the list of Community Templates and choose the corresponding template for the Creative Commons license type chosen
4. Save the draft agreement (click on the “Send for Approval” button)
5. Approve the agreement to activate it. 
6. The content item is now available for all DBL members to freely access, download, and use.

Licensing Content as Controlled Access

Controlled Access allows you as the Contributor to selectively license your content for use by a Distributor one at a time. This can be done in one of two ways:

1. A Distributor organization may find your content while browsing the DBL content library and request an agreement. 
   1. When a request is made, a license manager of your Contributor organization would review that request and decide to deny or approve it.
   2. If the request is approved, a draft agreement is created. Then the Distributor can review and choose to accept it.
   3. The final step is for the Contributor’s license manager to accept the agreement. Then the content item will be unlocked for the Distributor to have access to download.
2. A Contributor organization’s license manager may initiate the licensing process As the contributor, your org can define its own license agreement framework because the content belongs to your org as the IP holder. Learn more about how DBL helps with the licensing process at care.library.bible/category/110-license-management.
   1. Create a new license agreement with a selected Distributor organization.
   2. During the agreement creation process, the license manager would either choose an existing template in DBL or upload an external agreement (like a PDF document that is signed by both parties.)
   3. DBL will notify the Distributor’s license managers to review and approve the draft agreement.
   4. The final step is for the Contributor’s license manager to accept the agreement. Then the content item will be unlocked for the Distributor to have access to download.

Example for Licensing to YouVersion

Contributors who want to license their content to YouVersion can follow these steps:

1. Create a new agreement for the content item.
2. During the agreement creation process (Step 3), start typing YouVersion in the Search distributor organizations field and select it.
3. Under the Choose a Template section, go to the “Community Templates” list 
   1. For content in text format, choose YouVersion-IPC Text-Digital View-NonCommercial [T-D-NC].
   2. For content in audio format, choose YouVersion-IPC Text-Audio View-NonCommercial [T-D-NC].
   3. Alternatively, you may negotiate a custom agreement that both parties want to use.
4. Save the draft agreement (click on the “Send for Approval” button).*
5. After the YouVersion license manager has approved the agreement, the final step is for the Contributor org’s license manager to approve the agreement to activate it. After activation, YouVersion will have access to download this content item.

* We strongly recommend that Contributors contact YouVersion’s license manager to introduce themselves, explain their request for approval of the pending agreement, and assure its approval.