From: Laura Wilkinson <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Tue, 16 Feb 2016 10:04:19 +0000

Dear Richard,

I have been contacted on two separate occasions by the same publisher
regarding this – and I am pleased to say that neither occasion
resulted in the leak being identified as one of our users. I think the
publishers can detect when there is a bulk download of their content
by mechanisms more effective than going by the affiliation stamp on
the final PDF.  There seems to be a sophisticated network of userID
appropriation which is then used for systematic downloading.  It seems
to me that the publishers are already watching for this type of
unauthorised behaviour and will contact your institution about it, so
relieving you of the role of investigator - which could be a
time-consuming role and provoke a conflict of interest between the
roles of service delivery and self-appointed police officer to your
own users.

Protections to minimise risk would include having in place reputable
authentication mechanisms supported by accurate personnel/student
databases, and providing information to users about the conditions
that apply to their use of e-resources accessed via an institutional
subscription – in other words, existing good practice in academic
libraries.  In the UK, if these steps can be clearly demonstrated, it
is the user’s responsibility to use e-resources within the terms of
the licence, not the university (library)’s role to invigilate their
behaviour.  The same applies to photocopying/scanning and copyright –
we post notices by the machines about complying with the law, but we
don’t supervise and approve every photocopy/scan made in the library
(thank goodness).

Best wishes,

Laura

Laura J. Wilkinson
E-Resources Librarian, University of Sunderland Library Services
Murray Library, Chester Road, Sunderland SR1 3SD
Email: [log in to unmask]




From: LibLicense-L Discussion Forum
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of LIBLICENSE
Sent: 16 February 2016 01:14
Subject: SciHub (was: Elsevier cracks down on pirated articles)
From: Richard James <[log in to unmask]>

Date: Mon, 15 Feb 2016 13:53:34 -0500

having taken a (cautious) look at sci-hub for the first time recently-
since I try to make a rule of not visiting Russian file-sharing sites
if given a choice- I was struck by the fact that retrieved articles
are stamped with the usual retrieval information specifying the
institutional source for the pdf etc.

Which raises the question in my mind: is it possible to find out if
one's own library is being used to contribute to this mass-piracy
criminal enterprise, and if so, what should one do about it? Presuming
that it's impossible to get 'delisted' from sci-hub, what kind of
protections can be put in place to minimize risk?