News & Announcements

Dear colleagues, students and Libraries patrons,

We have received more reports of excessive downloading incidents recently from our information providers and suppliers of electronic resources (eResources). This would sometimes lead to an access ban on the whole HKU community.

To better tackle the interruption caused by excessive downloading incidents, the Senate Library Committee has passed the below policy against any student, staff member or Libraries patron found to have involved in any excessive downloading or prohibited uses (the Offender) after our investigation: –

1. A one-month access ban will be placed on the first-time offender from using all eResources offered by the Libraries (remote and on campus);
2. The first-time offender has to complete an e-Learning Course on the ethical use of electronic resources with a passing threshold at 80% in one month;
3. A repeat offender (being caught more than once) will be put on a five-month consecutive access ban from all eResources subscribed by the Libraries. The Libraries may consider taking repeat offenders to the Disciplinary Committee for further actions;
4. If the offender is a student, a staff member or any personnel attached to a faculty or a department, the Libraries will serve a letter with details to the respective faculty or department for record or any further action needed.

To avoid any interruption in the course access of eResources to the HKU community, we call for your attention to what leads to excessive downloading or prohibited uses on our thematic page: https://www.lib.hku.hk/general/warning.html.

Your cooperation is key to uphold our reputation. Thank you.

Yours Sincerely,
Flora Ng
CIO and University Librarian