Anonymous E-Mail for Patrons

[Donna Schumann]

Do any other public libraries let patrons send anonymous e-mail? I am
not talking about patrons setting up accounts on Hotmail or Yahoo -- I
am referring to letting them use a group e-mail account on the library
e-mail system which they can use to send, but not receive, e-mail. 

On all of our public PCs (PACs as well as Internet/Office), patrons can
launch a restricted version of Outlook Express and send e-mail from a
common "public" account. We originally set this up (5 years ago) so that
patrons could e-mail information from our reference databases or the
Internet to their personal e-mail accounts. 

Through the years, we have had occasional complaints when a patron
abuses the anonymous e-mail and uses it to harass or threaten someone.
This has happened again, and we are now questioning whether it is time
to stop providing this service. As part of our evaluation, we'd like to
know if other public libraries provide this service. (We are also
looking at the e-mails sent using this account to try to determine how
much of it is "legitimate", as opposed to being obnoxious or worse.)

Thanks in advance for any shared experiences or opinions! If you'd like
to respond off-list, I will summarize if this is of general interest.

Donna

-- 
Donna Schumann, Computer Application Specialist
Timberland Regional Library, 415 Airdustrial Way SW, Olympia, WA 98501
Voice: 360-704-4542  FAX: 360-586-6838  Email:
schumann at timberland.lib.wa.us