[WEB4LIB] Re: E-mail in libraries

[Hillary Theyer]

In the library system I work for, we charge for Internet access.  That is a
whole different ballgame to discuss, but we allow any Internet based e-mail
(like HotMail etc.) that does not require a program to be downloaded onto
our machines.  

I work in a small branch, and e-mail is one of the primary uses our
Internet terminal gets.  Our magazine and newspaper indexes allow users to
e-mail articles to themselves rather than print them, and many people
(myself included) take advantage of this service.  If I cannot answer a
reference question, or a fiction quesion, I am quite likely to as the user
if they would mind me addressing it on a listserv, and I volunteer to
e-mail them any useful results.

No, we don't provide free phones, or free envelopes and stamps, but I will
loan someone a pen, allow them to make a call from the desk in an
emergency, or change a dollar bill for them to use the payphone in the
lobby.  As long as our users are paying for access, they can do whatever
they want that does not impact the system, or other users.





At 02:40 PM 10/13/98 -0700, you wrote:
>>
>>I am continually troubled by the heavy-handed approach some members of our
>>profession take when it comes to recreational use of the Internet,
>particularly >those in public libraries. So what if someone wants to use the
>Internet to play >games or chat or send email? We provide popular reading
>materials in the line >of cartoon collections, graphic novels, steamy
>romance novels, and books of >trivia & games....why should we prohibit
>similar use of the Internet?
>
>And I suppose you provide a bank of free and unlimited telephones? We see
>E-mail and chat as extensions of the same principle. And free phone service
>would be cheaper to provide, too. A fifteen dollar phone costing $15 a month
>seems lots cheaper than a $1000 PC hooked up to an expensive ISDN or T-1
>line with lots of maintenance costs. 
>
>
>
>Mike Mitchell
>Tech Services Librarian/System Administrator
>Dittlinger Memorial Library
>New Braunfels, TX 
>mdm at nbpl.lib.tx.us
>
>
>
Hillary Theyer
Palos Verdes Library District
theyer at palos-verdes.lib.ca.us