controlling patron internet access time

[Jack Albrecht]

As with Debby's system, the San Diego Public Library system has an 
Internet policy that is posted in sight of the Internet terminals.  As 
of this writing, each branch is allowed to determine some criteria 
pertaining to duration on the terminals and advance signup policy.  
Although this may lead to some confusion, thus far the situation seems 
fairly equitable.  

At my branch, customers are able to sign up for a maximum of one hour 
each day.  They may also sign up a day in advance and -- as of this 
writing at least -- may phone up to reserve the terminal.  In the 
spirit of "move it or lose it," the signup sheets clearly state that if 
the customer is more than five minutes late, they lose their turn.  We 
are pretty strict about allowing customers extra time on the computers 
-- especially since we have dual access to both the Internet and our 
OPACs on each smart terminal (we do have one dedicated dumb OPAC 
terminal).  

So far, there have not been extremely unpleasant episodes with those 
ubiquitous creatures, THE INTERNET MONOPOLIZERS.  We try to educate the 
public in the golden rule policy.  Granted, many believe in the 
survival of the meanest approach!  In those cases, only preschool 
psychology seems to work!!!


jack albrecht
kensington-normal heights branch library
http://pw2.netcom.com/~coyote7/librarian/cove.html