If you don't mind people copying your work as long as it is noncommercial, then you can use a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license. Here, only people who want to use the work commercially need permission. This benefits both you and the users by reducing the number of people who have to ask for permission, and to whom you have to reply.
Library Publishing May Require Several Layers of Agreements
Suppose your library wants to publish a journal or other compilation of works. What sorts of license agreements do you need? This might seem like a simple question, but it can actually be rather complex. The most important thing is to have everything in writing. A simple verbal agreement and handshake isn't good enough here. You will also need a couple layers of agreement. What the agreements contain should be negotiated to best meet the library's and authors' long-term needs; remember that these copyrights will outlive you, and maybe even your children!
As an example, imagine a group of editors has approached you about publishing a journal through the library. First, the journal needs a license agreement with each author (recall that copyright automatically vests with the author). Some journals require authors to transfer their entire copyrights to the journals, but most authors should have some flexibility to use their articles for personal and professional purposes. The goodwill of the authors is probably worth whatever control over the articles you have to give up.
The agreement between the author and journal should give the journal the rights it needs to publish and archive the article. Beyond that, the rights should stay with the author. Unless you plan on trying to charge money for individual articles, a non-exclusive or temporary exclusive license (that then becomes non-exclusive one or two years after publication) is probably fine.
Then your library needs an agreement with the editors of the journal. The creative selection and arrangement of collective works—such as articles in a journal issue or chapters in an edited book—can also be copyrighted. In addition to having permission to publish each individual article,
