Bulk download documentation
On this page,
What is bulk download?
Manchester eScholar is publicly accessible repository. Where content is supplied with full text and/or supplementary data, these can be freely downloaded. There have been occasions in the past where some service providers have needed to download full text and/or supplementary files en masse, rather than one at a time. This is what we refer to as "bulk download".
Bulk download while supported by Manchester eScholar, is not an automated process. This is a deliberate move on our part so as to maintain our "fair use" policy. So, to avoid degradation of our quality of service to all users, bulk download is managed by us so as to avoid overload of our servers and network.
How it's done
Carrying out bulk download requires contacting Manchester eScholar Services directly. The process can be summarised as follows:
- Before contacting the Manchester eScholar support team, decide what content you require. The Manchester eScholar repository supports a large and increasing number of content types e.g. theses, books, journal articles, conference contributions etc... (see help on content types). You may not need all content types. If you only need a subset, decide what that subset should be.
- Contact the Manchester eScholar Services support team.
- Advise us as to the type(s) of content that you require.
- A custom script will then be sent to you and instructions given as to how and when to use this. (NB: this may require some technical knowledge).
- Depending upon the number and size of content being downloaded, as well as network conditions, download may take from a few seconds to many hours. Bulk download is unnecessary for small numbers of files, but may be useful to download hundreds or even thousands of files in a semi-automated manner.
How to contact us
To request a bulk download, or for any other enquiries, please contact the Manchester eScholar support team at:
Manchester eScholar Support Team
The University of Manchester Library
Tel: +44(0)161 275 8728 (internal: x58728)
Email: escholar@manchester.ac.uk (via IT Service Desk)