AI Discussions Working Group - New Solutions Showcase Series Announced!

[Arran Griffith]

Hi Everyone,

On behalf of the AI Discussions Working Group, I am excited to announce the first Solutions Showcase for 2026! We are thrilled to relaunch the Series this month by welcoming Michael Della Bitta from the Internet Archive and Tom Wrobel from the Bodleian Libraries at Oxford University. 

Join us Wednesday, February 25th, 2026 @ 10:00am Eastern for this 2026 kick off. This series is a regular virtual event, bringing together individuals and institutions from across the GLAM sector to demo practical solutions they've implemented to mitigate the negative impacts of AI bot harvesting on their systems, including repositories, websites, catalogues, and more.

Details:

Date: Wednesday, February 25, 2026

Time: 10:00am Eastern

Location: Zoom - https://lyrasis.zoom.us/meeting/register/3HAYU8zgTwiD_h3w-zePNg

• Each session will feature a live demo and time for Q&A.

• Demos will span a diverse range of technical approaches, including open and non-open source solutions.

The session will feature demos by representatives from The Internet Archive and the Bodleian Libraries at Oxford University. 

The Internet Archive - Presenter Michael Della Bitta will share details of the JA4 + Fingerprinting solutions they have coupled together to mitigate bot activity.

Bodleian Libraries - Presenter Tom Wrobel will discuss the Cloudflare-based WAF they are using for the Oxford University Research Archive (ORA) Public.

To read more about the presenters, and see information about previous Solutions Showcases, check out our wiki space: https://wiki.lyrasis.org/display/cmtygp/Solutions+Showcase

---

The Solutions Showcase Series is organized by the AI Discussions Group, a collaborative initiative that emerged from shared concerns about the impact of AI-driven web harvesting on academic institutions. While our initial focus was on academic repositories, we’ve since expanded our scope to include all corners of the GLAM sector.

The group is currently working through focused areas of action:

• Solutions – to discuss and share mitigation strategies

• White Paper – to articulate the challenges and advocate for sector-wide awareness

Read more about some of our initial discussions here: https://wiki.lyrasis.org/display/cmtygp/Aggressive+AI+Harvesting+of+Digital+Resources

Have a solution to share?
We’re actively looking for additional presenters! If your institution has addressed AI bot scraping in a creative or effective way, we’d love to feature your work. Please reach out to Arran Griffith at arran.g...@lyrasis.org to book a presentation slot.

Cheers,
Arran Griffith, on behalf of The AI Discussions Group

---

Arran Griffith

Program Manager, Fedora Program

Lyrasis