[WEB4LIB] Blocking web-based chat

[Dan Lester]

At 02:43 PM 11/23/99 -0800, Dales, Carol wrote:
>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:

I'm replying from an academic library, but several public libraries are 
using the same technique with the same blacklist linked from 
http://www.84.com/blocking.htm
We use WinProxy, but your choice will depend on your platform, etc.  You 
can see the blacklist directly at http://www.84.com/blacklist.htm    That 
list should be updated in the next hour or two.  A number of others 
contribute to this project.

>--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?

Our technique would allow that, but it would be up to you to figure out 
which are "good" and which are not.  Looking over the blacklist page will 
give you an idea of the range of sites that have chat available.  And, 
there are plenty more that we've just not heard about yet, plus new ones 
popping up each day.

We have had a couple of students complain that they can't go to 
"educational chat sites", including ones run for a couple of our own 
university's classes.  We remind them that just as we don't have word 
processing for them to write their paper, we don't have chat for their 
class, but that we DO have several thousand online journals, half a million 
books, and several thousand print journals.  They can go to a computer lab 
to do the things the computing activities the library doesn't provide. Part 
of our decision was based on the problem of patrons saying "how come he can 
chat and I can't?" if we allowed it for some 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?

"Useful" is in the eye of the beholder.  If you can find a date in a chat 
room is that "useful"?

We don't consider it censorship at all to block chat, email, and game 
playing.  We're NOT blocking type of content or subject matter.  We're 
blocking FUNCTION.  You can look at dirty pictures in our library, but you 
can't go to a dirty chat room.  You can look at religious websites, but you 
can't go to a Bible chat room either.

Feel free to contact me directly if I can help further with any of this.

cheers

dan

--
Good, Fast, and Cheap: Which two of the three would you like?
Dan Lester, 3577 East Pecan, Boise, ID 83716 USA 208-383-0165
dan at 84.com   http://www.84.com/  http://www.postcard.org/