[WEB4LIB] Email in libraries: the agony, the ecstasy, the confusion...

[Julie Castelluzzo]

Hi, Karen (and everyone on the list).

I promise not to go into a long philosophical diatribe about why I think
it is important to offer email and telnet. You can probably search the
web4lib archive and find a few of my old 2 cents that were thrown in. You
may recall that there was quite a lively discussion of this on the list a
while back (about a year ago?) ;)

We've been offering email and telnet, in addition to Web access, for about
a year and a half now in our library. No problems so far. Many people use
telnet to get to their email on campus, or their email at other
institutions they belong to. Others use a Web-based email like Hotmail.
The only practical problem we've run into so far came up very recently. A
student told me that he had trouble accessing his Hotmail account, because
Hotmail now requires cookies. (I haven't looked into the details.) We have
our browsers set up to restrict cookies.

We do not offer access to software programs from specific online services,
such as AOL or Mindspring.

We do not require people to log in or identify themselves in any way in
order to use email, Internet, etc. If they have access to our Library,
they can use it. This is a private, academic library, but we have many
patrons coming in from other institutions in the area, because of
consortial arrangements, and also the general public, because we are a
selective US Gov't depository.

No problems so far regarding the telnet access. Not even one virus (knock
on wood). We use Fortres101 running on top of Win95, password protect the
BIOS settings, and do not allow booting from floppies.

Good luck with the column. I'm sure you'll get many interesting responses.

Julie

Julie Castelluzzo          juliec at cooper.edu
Electronic Services Librarian
The Cooper Union Library   www.cooper.edu/facilities/library/library.html

On Thu, 22 Apr 1999, Karen G. Schneider wrote:

> Do you offer access to email?  Do you NOT offer access to email (do you
> prohibit it)?  Do you offer access to special email programs--AOL and
> Mindspring come to mind?  What about telnet?  Did you have to scale back or
> eliminate a service (such as telnet) due to support or security problems?
> What other problems (or success stories) have you encountered?  Is access
> to email expected, asked for or ignored in your community?  Do you require
> identification?  Do you offer email to travelers and guests?  What about
> kids?  What advice, war stories or suggestions do you have for other
> libraries?  
> 
> The Internet Librarian wants to know!  Email me at kgs at bluehighways.com and
> be sure to include your name, library or organization, job title and email
> address.  
> _________________________________________________________________
> Karen G. Schneider |  kgs at bluehighways.com http://www.bluehighways.com 
> Author: A Practical Guide to Internet Filters, Neal Schuman, 1997 
> Director, Garfield Library of Brunswick, NY... 
> Soon: Brunswick Community Library!        ICQ 33028281
> Garfield on the Web: http://www.crisny.org/not-for-profit/garfield/
>