Over the past year, academic libraries across the country, including ours, have seen a sharp increase in website traffic generated by AI-powered programs (“bots”). These systems are often designed to rapidly scan, scrape, or analyze large portions of websites.  

While some automated tools are legitimate and useful (such as search engines), the volume and speed of many AI bots can cause website slowdowns, increased server costs, and reduced performance for students, faculty, and researchers. 

What We’re Doing About It 

To protect access to library resources and keep our websites fast and reliable, we’ve implemented a new bot-blocking system for some of our digital collections. It works by checking whether a visitor is a real person before allowing full access, with the following features: 

• It’s open source, which helps us control costs while maintaining strong protection. 
• No personal information is collected or stored. 
• The system exists solely to prevent automated abuse and reduce strain on our servers. 

Why Are You Seeing an Unfamiliar Web Page? 

Visitors may briefly see a screen asking them to confirm they are human before continuing to a library website. Some users could be concerned that it resembles a hacking attempt or third-party interference. However, it is part of our own security infrastructure and not advertising, tracking, or external manipulation. Below is an example:

In most cases, the check completes automatically within seconds, and you won’t notice it again. 

Protecting Performance for Everyone 

Our primary goal is to ensure that the library’s websites remain fast and responsive, especially during heavy use by students and researchers. To support that goal, we have also moved some high-traffic digital collections, such as the Etta Hulme Cartoon Archive, Roswell UFO Incident, and U.S.-Mexico War Collection, to a separate server. This goal helps ensure that intensive use of digital collections does not affect the performance of core library services.    

This work was implemented by the Library Systems and Technology department, whose staff design, maintain, and secure the infrastructure that supports our digital services every day. If you have questions or concerns about this change, we welcome your feedback and are happy to explain more.