Are there acceptable use guidelines for electronic resources provided by UAB Libraries?
Answer
Yes. When we license electronic resources from vendors and publishers, we enter into license agreements that delimit acceptable use and restrict use to the UAB community.
Acceptable Use Guidelines
When you use our electronic resources, it is your responsibility to abide by the terms of our license agreements:
- You must use our electronic resources only for individual, non-commercial use.
- You are prohibited from systematically downloading, distributing, or retaining substantial portions of content retrieved from a database.
Systematic Downloading
Prohibited by our license agreements, systematic downloading (or bulk downloading) involves the use of software such as scripts, agents, or robots to download an entire journal volume or multiple articles in a single journal issue.
If you engage in systematic downloading, the entire UAB community may be affected. Publishers keep track of patterns of use and may disable online access for everyone when they suspect misuse. In fact, this has already happened here at UAB: In some instances, publishers have temporarily withdrawn our access to their journal content because of suspected bulk downloading.