OFF-CAMPUS USERS HOGGING COLLEGE PCs

[Shirl Kennedy]

>From Edupage, 2 August 1998

OFF-CAMPUS USERS HOGGING COLLEGE PCs
The free Internet access enjoyed by college students and faculty members is
proving popular with non-university types as well, with librarians reporting
a surge in walk-in PC users who use school facilities to read e-mail, check
stock quotes, do research or skim the news online.  And it's not just
adults, but children and teenagers who are dropping in to do some surfing.
The problem is especially noticeable in the summer when kids are out of
school and have time on their hands.  "On many afternoons, every terminal
was in use by a student too young to be a Rutgers student," reports a
reference librarian at Rutgers University who has co-authored a paper on the
subject.  The Association of Research Libraries found in 1996 that a
majority of the 39 institutions it surveyed were dealing with incidents of
"improper computer usage" at their institutions, and the association is now
conducting a more formal survey of its membership to determine how they are
handling such problems.  (Chronicle of Higher Education 31 Jul 98)

Shirl Kennedy
Internet Waves columnist
Information Today
Best Bet Internet
http://www.ala.org/editions/openstacks/bestbet/index.html