[Eril-l] Newsbank Access World News block from excessive usage - anybody else running into this?

[Michael Fernandez]

Hi Diane,
I'm seeing this message late, but I've encountered this exact issue with Newsbank. Last summer Newsbank put blocks on our proxy IP twice within a one-month span. In both cases we were able to get the blocks lifted; the library was able to identify that the heavy usage was from faculty members conducting summer research. In neither case did the usage fall under the umbrella of data mining or any other type of unacceptable use as defined by our license agreement. I had multiple conversations with several rungs of Newsbank management, the only outcome of which was Newsbank offering to create a cloned sandbox environment for data mining (again, not what our faculty members were attempting to do) and quoting the library a significant cost for this service. That was never going to be a viable option, however, we were able to work directly with the faculty and identify alternate data sources for their research.

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Michael Fernandez
Electronic Resources Librarian
American University Library
4400 Massachusetts Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20016
202-885-3203

From: Eril-l <eril-l-bounces at lists.eril-l.org> On Behalf Of Diane Westerfield
Sent: Thursday, August 02, 2018 3:22 PM
To: eril-l <eril-l at lists.eril-l.org>
Subject: [Eril-l] Newsbank Access World News block from excessive usage - anybody else running into this?

Hi,

We're having a problem with Access World News from Newsbank. Users have triggered an IP block on our library server IP address twice this summer and Newsbank isn't clearing this second occurence. We're pretty sure the usage is from legitimate patrons doing legitimate research. Although in one case it may be getting into "data mining" territory.

The block is solely on our proxy server IP address. So it blocks our default proxied links and keeps (authorized) off-campus users from getting in. However, a direct link from a campus IP can still get in. Since our e-resource links default to proxy and we have many authorized users off-campus during the summer, this block punishes a number of people who have nothing to do with the student conducting heavy-duty research.

Anybody else run into this? I've not experienced this kind of issue before.

Thanks,

Diane Westerfield, Electronic Resources & Serials Librarian
Tutt Library, Colorado College
diane.westerfield at coloradocollege.edu<mailto:diane.westerfield at coloradocollege.edu>
(719) 389-6661
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