FW: Limiting Lynx to specific URLs -Reply -Reply

[Dan Lester]

Well, I'm not a public library expert, but.....

Sure, limiting time can have its own problems....as
can any other method of controlling human
behavior.  No matter WHAT human behavior we try
to control, there will always be someone who will
resist the controls.  That surely isn't unique to public
libraries, as the folks in Montana learned, as those
who get speeding tickets learn, etc.  

But, once again, I wonder if the library
administration isn't once again Managing By Fear
or Managing By Exception.  Our managers here
have expressed some of the same fears, but most
of them have NOT come to pass.  When the fears
come to pass then we deal with them.  For
example, though we're a state university library,
we're downtown near large numbers of homeless
people, and we're a public building, required by law
to be open to the public.  When some of these folks
cause trouble (and actually no more often than the
students or facutly) we deal with it.  But we do NOT
make restrictive policies in advance.  We have one
area that has TV/VCR combos available with open
shelf videos nearby.  Most of their use is by
students in film and education and business
classes where they need to see videos.  Some fo
the street people started to come in and watch
entertainment videos.  Those who brought "liquid
refreshment" with them were thrown out by the
sheriff (who provides campus security by contract). 
The numbers increased...both street people and
students who realized the recreational potential. 
Finally we did the same thing we do regarding
circulation, limited usage of those machines to
those with a valid ID card and that cut numbers
enough to make it manageable.  

We have CDROM workstations and also Web
workstations with "Please Limit Use to 20 Minutes
If Others Are Waiting" signs on them.  The peer
pressure of someone standing around looking at
their watch and tapping their foot anxiously is
almost always enough to get the violator to leave
quietly.  I don't  think a staff member has had to
intervene more than once a year in the last four
years.  This includes those who are surfing for fun
(we presume) as well as those who are working on
an assignment or paper.  Once in a while someone
will want us to schedule usage...but we will not do
that....that would be a LOT more work and hassle,
and much more chance of altercation....though I'll
admit that was considered when we first set up the
stations some six years ago.

What we do if there were an altercation?  Exactly
what I hope ANY librarian in ANY library would do. 
DIAL 911 and keep out of it.  We're not in the
business of being police officers, social workers, or
anything else.  We're information workers.  

Once again, way too many library managers
manage by fear and exception....but I don't have a
solution for that.  Isn't there SOME way you can
convince the higher ups that you either provide the
service or you don't...that there isn't any reasonable
middle ground?  

cyclops



Dan Lester, Network Information Coordinator
Boise State University Library, Boise, Idaho, 83725
USA
voice: 208-385-1235   fax:  208-385-1394
dlester at bsu.idbsu.edu     OR   
alileste at idbsu.idbsu.edu
Cyclops' Internet Toolbox:    http://cyclops.idbsu.edu
"How can one fool make another wise?"   Kansas,
1979.