Bulk, or systematic, downloading is the process of manually or programmatically downloading all or large amounts of publications from a site, whether a publishers’ site or database of content. Publications are systematically downloaded regardless of relevancy to one’s own research in order to amass a publication “library.”
Bulk downloading is usually done by programming a script to “crawl” sites for content like online articles and eBooks. Our licenses with journal publishers and other vendors prohibit bulk downloading. When vendors detect this activity, they will cut off access to specific resources, which can affect the research activities for everyone at Mount Sinai.
We actively monitor for excessively high publication download rates. Aside from not bulk downloading, the biggest step you can take to make sure that library resources remain secure and accessible for everyone, is to never share your login credentials (username/password) with anyone. Hackers can use this data to bulk download content to pirate sites, resulted in vulnerability to computer viruses.
Learn more about our Levy Library licensing and copyright policies here. If you have questions related to bulk downloading, please contact us via our Ask a Librarian service.
