JSTOR is not Ruckus

I was somewhat alarmed to read about an IU student downloading as many articles as possible from JSTOR, an online archive of more than 700 scholarly journals, for the sole purpose of creating a portable library for his flash drive (“Senior dedicates time to retrieving articles from IU,” May 2).\nThe IUB Libraries have a long and respected history of providing trustworthy and reliable information. For almost 200 years we have purchased books and printed journals; as a result, IU has one of the largest and finest collections in the country. Increasingly, of course, we license access to research materials in electronic form.\nJust as music downloads are protected by their publishers, articles from scholarly journals are subject to terms and conditions of use. The IUB Libraries enter into agreements with publishers to make this information available to IUB students and faculty for their scholarly needs. It appears that the student in the article, who downloaded articles from specific authors, was not in violation of our agreement. Individuals, however, may not download or print, or attempt to download or print, substantial portions of a database or of the entire run of a journal. Abuse of our contractual agreements with publishers may result in termination of these contracts and thus could jeopardize access to electronic resources for the entire campus community.\nThe IUB Libraries select, purchase, and manage information for the academic community. We are pleased to do so, and rely on the goodwill of students and faculty to comply with agreements, both in spirit and in practice.\nDownload responsibly.