Personal Web Pages on Library Servers

[Alicia Abramson]

Our library is currently considering whether or not to allow library faculty
and staff to put "personal" home-pages on our web server.  It is somewhat
controversial however, as some see this as possibly opening a can of worms
in terms of whether these pages should conform to a set of guidelines or not.  

The issues include:

1)  "What if someone put X on their homepage...?" especially if X is
something that some, or many individuals in the library do not agree with or
support,  (for example, the Northwestern professor who espouses his
holocaust revisionist ideas on his personal web page).

2) If guidelines for personal pages are put in place, is this censorship?  

3) If guidelines are put in place (and generally agreed upon), can there be
different guidelines for faculty vs. staff? (librarians at AU have faculty
status).  An underlying issue here is: does academic freedom extend to
staff? (Please don't flame me, I'm asking this because I'm interested in
hearing if others have asked or grappled with this question.)

I would be especially interested in hearing from libraries that *do* support
personal home pages and experiences with implementing this, whether or not
the library developed guidelines on personal pages and what problems or
issues have arisen as a result of opening up the server to personal pages.

I am also interested in hearing from you if your library has decided not to
support personal home pages and why.  I will summarize all responses to the
list.

Thanks!
 
                             *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- 
                             | Alicia Abramson        |
                             * Head, Library Systems *
                             | American University   |
                             * (202) 885-3228         *
                             | aabrams at american.edu   |
                             *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-