Emai/Chat/Web Use Policies--Summary

[Donald Barclay]

A few weeks back I asked members of Web-4-Lib to share their policies
regarding the use of email/chat/web on networked public-use computers.  I
got a total of 16 replies from 13 individuals, not all of whom had a
policy to share.  Replies came from public, community college, university,
and regional libraries.  One respondent was from a library in the U.K.  My
summary of the policies follows:


At two institutions email and chat are not allowed, but these policies are
unevenly enforced.  At one institution the respondent noted that the
librarians enforced the policy more strongly against young adults than
other populations.  The second institution has a "No email or chat" sign
on every computer. 

Four institutions use time limits but do not control what patrons do.  One
respondent at a time-limit institution felt that email/chat shouldn't be
allowed at all, while another respondent saw email/chat as appropriate
uses. A third respondent reported that the time limit was unevenly
enforced. 

The U.K.  institution has a total freedom policy under which there are no
limits on time or on what patrons do while using library computers.

One institution limited chat and email to two of its six public computers.

An academic medical library reported using different policies for
different computers.  The library's "information access" computers (two
computers located in the reference area) had time limits but no
restrictions on how they were used.  The twenty five computers in the
library's lab have signs spelling out which types of use have priority.
The priorities are: 

        1.) students using medical education applications 
        2.) students using the Internet for assigned resources
        3.) students using e-mail
        4.) non-assigned Internet use

The respondent reported that these priorities are "strictly enforced" by
the lab staff.  Use of the lab is limited to faculty, staff, and
students.

Thanks to everyone who weighed in on this issue.  If anyone out there has
a policy they'd like to share, I'm still interested in seeing how other
institutions handle this problem.


Donald A. Barclay
Coordinator of Electronic Services    always the beautiful answer
University of Houston Libraries       who asks a more beautiful question
DBarclay at uh.edu                               --e.e. cummings