E-mail in Public Libraries

[Bigwood, David]

I was not going to respond to this since I think individual institutions may
have different legitimate needs and policies but there are some points being
overlooked by both sides in the debate.

Use of the Web by patrons is often much less educational or legitimate than
e-mail.  Some of the most common searches and frequented sites are Brittany
Spears, Baywatch, Pokemon, Nintendo, 98 Degrees and so on.  This type of fan
activity ties up limited resources and with the heavy use of graphics at
these sites uses more bandwidth than simple e-mail.

On the other hand we do not provide radios, telephones, and TVs for our
patrons yet these can have an educational component and be important to the
community.  We must make decisions based on local needs.  If we decide we
are not going to provide communication functions to the community that may
be a sound decision based on the local community.

Sincerely,
David Bigwood
Lunar & Planetary Institute
bigwood at lpi.jsc.nasa.gov