[Eril-l] Mass downloads

Tue Sep 21 09:30:00 PDT 2021

Hi Igor,

At Ohio State, when we receive one of these emails, we immediately open a ticket with our Libraries IT letting them know about the block and attaching an audit log of the user's session. (Most vendors seem to attach one of these to the notification email, but if they don't, they are usually able to provide one if asked.) Libraries IT is then able to identify the user. After that happens, we reach out to the user with a form email explaining they have been identified as having systematically downloaded content, which is in breach of our license terms. (I will usually also ask if they have a project they are working on that we can potentially help with.)

I second Mark's sentiment about downloading thresholds. I've encountered a few situations where the block seemed arbitrary. In such cases I will share with the vendor that our IT determined the block to be unreasonable--that a pattern of systematic downloading did not seem likely. I'm not sure that this makes a difference, but perhaps it could help vendors rethink the way they identify potential problem users.

Best,

Aaron Miller
E-Resources Access Coordinator | Electronic Resources Management Team
The Ohio State University Libraries
Libraries Tech Center, 1165 Kinnear Rd. Columbus OH 43212
Telecommuting Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday Fri 8 am-4:30 pm EST
On-site Wednesday 8 am-4:30pm EST
miller.4039 at osu.edu<mailto:miller.4039 at osu.edu> | 614-514-5877
________________________________
From: Eril-l <eril-l-bounces at lists.eril-l.org> on behalf of igor.hammer at unibe.ch <igor.hammer at unibe.ch>
Sent: Tuesday, September 21, 2021 6:25 AM
To: eril-l at lists.eril-l.org <eril-l at lists.eril-l.org>
Subject: [Eril-l] Mass downloads

Hello,

We sometimes receive e-mails from publishers who tell us that somebody inside our IP-range has downloaded too many documents from their website so that they decided to block the ip-address in question for some time.

If you receive similar e-mails – how do you react to them? On one hand we understand that the publishers want to protect their stock from mass downloads on a grand scale. But on the other hand the limits given by some publishers seem to me to be quite arbitrary and I don't always see on what grounds they base their decision. This makes it quite difficult for us to communicate to our customers as the same behaviour that may be no problem for one publisher might cause an ip-block from another publisher.

Best,

Igor

--------------------------------------------------------------

Universität Bern

Universitätsbibliothek Bern

Digitale Dienste & Open Science

Igor Hammer

I+D-Spezialist

Hochschulstrasse 6

3012 Bern

Schweiz

Tel. +41 31 684 95 89

igor.hammer at unibe.ch<mailto:igor.hammer at unibe.ch>

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