Re: offline browsers

[David Goodman <dgoodman@princeton.edu>]

They presumably wish to make their pages invisible to automated web
crawlers, and they should make use of the available technical means for
doing so.  If they are, however, concerned with the user downloading
material for private use, the usual approach is to limit the amount the
user is permitted to store locally, not the rate of access. There are such
limits in many contracts, though usually for databases. I for one consider
such limits an acceptable perogative, though in an academic context
probably an unnecessary one. If they are concerned that their server can
not handle more than one request per minute, they are having some real
problems with technology, not just licensing.  In any case, no library can
warrant what the users will do and therefore cutting off access is an
unreasonable sanction. They can ask instead that the library cooperate in
investigating and preventing unauthorized use.

--
David Goodman
Biology Librarian, Princeton University Library
dgoodman@princeton.edu         http://www.princeton.edu/~biolib/
phone: 609-258-3235            fax: 609-258-2627

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Moran, Sheila E wrote:

> This is a question related to electronic journal licensing terms that I
> wonder if anyone else has run into. Part of the terms give a warning
> about usage of popular "offline browsers" that allow users to download
> content.  The warning is specific to configure the offline browser to
> not request more than one page per 60 seconds or non compliance with
> this rule will result in blockage of access. My understanding of offline
> browsers is that they are robot type programs that will download entire
> websites.  One question is how have you alerted your users to this
> warning.  We were thinking of putting a notice on our electronic
> publications page. We would also like to know more about these offline
> browsers and how they differ from the web crawlers  mentioned in earlier
> discussions.
> Thanks. Sheila
> 
> Sheila Moran MLIS
> moran.sheila@mgh.harvard.edu
> semoran@partners.org
> Treadwell Library
> Massachusetts General Hospital
> phone 617-724-2790
> fax 617-726-6784