[WEB4LIB] Loading personal or library software

[Edward Spodick, HKUST Library, 2358-6743]

We provide a computer laboratory.  The user has to log in with their username and password, which could be used for tracking if they do anything too damaging.  The computers are wide open for that session, and the drives are completely wiped and restored with a full virus scan of everything at every boot-up.  So if the user saves things to the drive, they are gone if the machine hangs - they need to save to their network space or to the floppy drive.

We *added* cd-rom drives to a few of these computers specifically so that cd-roms from Library materials could be accessed on computers in the Library.  If we collect it, we should provide a way to use it.

-Edward Spodick, Systems Librarian
 Hong Kong university of Science & Technology
 lbspodic at ust.hk


At 2:31 PM -0700 21/6/00, Bennett, Roy - WOU Library wrote: 
>Currently, our campus computer labs do not allow students to load 
>and run personal software on lab computers. At the library, we do 
>not accommodate this either. Example: a student with a CD-ROM 
>from a textbook. The same is true for library-owned software. The 
>library does not load or allow students to load any software. We do 
>not load software from books or journals that we own. The software, 
>usually a CD-ROM, can be checked out. We are reviewing this 
>policy now.  
>
>Do any libraries provide a computer for people to load their own 
>software? If so, how long do you keep it available?
>
>How about library-owned software? For example, a disc that comes 
>with a book. Will your library load that software on demand? Or do 
>you tell patrons to take that software home or somewhere else to 
>use?