E-mail/Chat on library Internet terminals

[Hetherington Information Services]

Hi,

	My public library has one very popular Internet computer for patrons.  We
allow each patron a one hour time limit on it, longer if no one is waiting.
 Pornagraphy is handled with permission slips, and chatting is allowed.
(Children under 18 must have a permission slip.)  

	My concern, as the technology librarian, is that the machine remain in
tact.  I feel it's not my place to decide for the patron if their time is
spent 'researching using the net' or just enjoying it for it's multimedia
pizazz. 

	If the latest killer apt happens to be something that causes chaos on my
PC then I will limit the use, but only because it's my responsibility to
make sure these machines run.

	In our case, using the Internet is not financially comprable to the phone
or fax.  Our system is networked, therefore online all the time.  It is no
additional cost for someone to chat.

	Respectively I have not been in a large setting where patrons became a
problem because of their use and abuse of Internet computers.
Wordprocessors is another story. <G>


Regards,
--Cyn



>Tom, I have a hotmail account too (I just don't use it).  Hard drive
>space
>is never an issue.  Technically, any web page loaded takes up space in
And if that means developing a policy
>that frees an otherwise tied-up resource for other patrons to use, so
>that everyone benefits, then that must be the case.  I recognize a need
>to keep communication channels open for patrons, for the information
>they seek may very well arrive via e-mail.  However, why should a
>patron with a valid query wait for another patron who's at an Internet
>terminal e-mailing a joke to a friend in college?  A library is not
>obligated to permit or even tolerate this activity.
>
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