Privacy and Public Access Netscape PCs in the Library

[Lesley Williams]

We worried about the same problems you're facing. We did position 3 of 
our terminals so that the user sits with his back to the wall, and no one 
can catch a glimpse of the screen while strolling by. We also make people 
who are waiting to use an Internet terminal stand further away, and we 
strongly discourage anyone from looking over another user's shoulder. If 
despite these prescautions, someone sees something they don't like, we 
feel they intentionally chose to violate the other user's privacy, and 
thus have no right to complain. Recently, the administration has met with 
our security team to reinforce the concept of user privacy: no one is to 
be prevented from accessing something on the Internet just because someone 
else disapproves.

Another concern we had was one person leaving an obscene picture for the 
next person to view. Our tech team wrote a program in ResEdit to return 
Netscape to the Home page after 5 minutes of inactivity, so this has not 
been a problem.

We do have one terminal in the children's area which is visible by 
passers-by, although it is in a fairly remote location. We've received 
complaints of the sort you've experienced, and we plan to reorient the 
computer to make the screen less visible. We also tell kids that only 2 
people can use it at a time, to discourage large gaggles of hangers-on 
from congregating around the Playboy page.

Hope this helps, and please share any acquired wisdom!


Opinions expressed above are solely those of the author, not an official 
communication of the Arlington Heights Memorial Library.

Lesley Williams	                                   tel 847-506-2667
Electronic Resources Specialist                    fax 847-506-2636
Arlington Heights Memorial Library                 lwilliam at nslsilus.org
Arlington Heights IL  USA
                        
                           www.nslsilus.org/ahmlhome