[Michlib-l] Adding Websites to Your Library Site

[Christian Dunham]

Greetings all,

 

Recently, many of you have been asking about people and companies that want
us to add their website to our own library websites. While these sites may
offer good information, this is essentially a “scam.”

 

They’re an aggregator. These are popup companies and websites that make
money by hosting outside advertising. The more traffic they get (via having
libraries link to them) the more they get paid. If they make you sign up for
an account, they use that to get generate revenue too (and any free good
information shouldn’t require you to create an account to get!). 

 

The true “scam” part comes from the way their operation works. Years ago,
these websites used to offer introduction paragraphs and dozens if not
hundreds of links to another website/websites where the information
originated from. Now many of them wholesale copy and paste information or
embed data from other sites into their own. They are collecting revenue off
websites that offer it for free (a government site), or a website which
hosts ads because it is their original content. I have found that if it
seems like they are offering a broad range of links or resources from many
websites into their own, it’s always found somewhere more legitimate. 

 

In summary, you are being asked to be patsy to help someone make a quick
buck. 

 

My 2¢ on the subject matter, and I usually send a reply to people who ask
about it when it comes up.

 

 

Regards, 

 

 

Christian Dunham | Director

Bullard Sanford Memorial Library

989-823-2171  

vassarlib.org

facebook.com/vassarlibrary

 

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