Blocking web-based chat

[Dales, Carol]

Our Management team is examining the technical issues around blocking web
based chat on public access Internet workstations. 
(The decision not to offer access to Internet Relay Chat was made
during the process of planning public internet access, and was grounded
primarily in the limited number of workstations and the need for special
chat software).

The possibility of now blocking web based chat is also being viewed as a
service issue, based upon overwhelming demand for a limited resource  rather
than as a content or censorship matter(people are chatting electronically to
each other from a distance of three feet, while others with a pressing need
to use the equipment are waiting as long as three hours for their booked
time slot).

We are running IE 5.0 on an NT 4.0 network, with all security at present
stemming from NT settings only. Selected workstations are currently filtered
by Bess software. There is a possibility that by extending our Bess licence,
we can set up another proxy server to filter chat on workstations not
presently filtered for content.However, before making a decision, the team
is interested in hearing how other public libraries are managing the
technical and philosophical issues in blocking chat sites:

--what software are you using?
--is any library successfully using software (or any other method) to
differentiate chat sites that might be useful from purely recreational
sites?
--has any library decided against blocking chat, either because some chat
sites may be useful to some patrons, or because of 
reluctance to censor resources?

Thank you for sharing your experience!

E. Carol Dales
Information Services Librarian
Winnipeg Centennial Library

204-986-6433
cdales at city.winnipeg.mb.ca