[WEB4LIB] Re: Blocking free mail services--yet more

[The Workplace]

In terms of blocking e-mail access, I find I have to point out my
reservations. For one thing, patrons may use e-mail for perfectly valid
research purposes. In answering a query about a particular Sartain
print, for example, I might suggest to a patron that they put a posting
on PRINTS-L. I would not want to tell them that they can't do that here,
in my library. In my current position, I guide patrons to career and job
posting sites, many of which ask that they e-mail their resumes, or that
they give their e-mail address to register. Again, I don't want to say
they can't do that here...since so many would not be able to do it
anywhere else. Even when I get frustrated with teenagers "chatting"
right next to each other, I remind myself that they are reading and they
are in a library and they are learning about electronic communication,
whether they know it or not.

I concur with Sue Kamm that:
> > libraries with web-based catalogs and
> > subscription databases (Gale, UMI, Wilson) reserve at least one
> > workstation for use of the catalog and databases only.  

Elizabeth McKenty
Free Library of Philadelphia