[WEB4LIB] RE: Patrons causing problems with online gaming sites

[Andrew Mutch]

Benjamin,

I would second the points made here that the way to address the behavior
problem is to:

1) Have a policy about use and enforce it, including banning those who are
damaging the computers when they get caught.

2) Set time limits on use if the problem is limited resources and too much
demand.

As far as the kind of use, blocking or even threatening to block certain
kinds of traffic will likely cause more trouble than it is worth. While it
is understandable that the person wanting to work on their resume or do
"serious" research is going to be annoyed if they see a bunch of kids
playing games online, you really don't want to get into the role of judging
the quality of peoples time on the computer. Our attitude is "your time on
the computer is your time to do whatever you see fit, so long as it is legal
and consistent with our policies". We don't bump people from the easy chairs
who are reading Danielle Steel to make room for the person who wants to read
David McCullough. If you don't have enough computers to meet the demand,
limit the time that people can spend on the computers. Then you can
guarantee the patrons that something will be available shortly. Plus, from
what I've seen here on our Internet computers, adults play the online games
just as much as the kids. They just prefer the card games and crosswords
while the kids prefer something with more sound and action.

One thing I would caution against is trying to do too much segregation by
use. We do have 3 computers just for database access and CD-ROM use and 3
just for Word Processing. In a typical month, our usage stats in our Adult
area look something like this:

Internet (10 computers): In use 85% of the available hours
Word Processing (3 computers):  In use 15% of the available hours
Database/CD-ROM (3 computers): In use 6% of the available hours

As you can see, that's a ton of computer time being wasted on the database
computers to ensure that those resources are always available for our
patrons to use. It's something we'll have to revisit because while it is
based on good intentions, the end results just don't seem to justify the
restrictions.

Andrew Mutch
Library Systems Technician
Waterford Township Public Library
Waterford, MI


Benjamin Sprague wrote:

> Michael,
>
> I agree with you in that we don't want to punish all of the kids who use
> our library because of a handful of problem patrons.  However, when none
> of the patrons in question are willing to tell us who caused the damage,
> it's hard to pinpoint one person and ban them from Internet use without
> any actual evidence.  That's why I think that a mild threat of their
> games getting banned would be enough to reduce the amount of trouble
> we've had considerably.   We do have a computerized sign-up system for
> our public computers, along with enforced time limits, but at the moment
> there is no way to prevent them from using someone else's card to go
> online or circumvent those time limits.
>
> We're a fairly small public library to begin with (only 7 public
> Internet stations), but recently we have seen over 350 patrons use our
> computers in one week.  It's frustrating when a patron comes in and
> realizes that the reason they can't get on a computer to get their work
> done is because a bunch of kids are playing games instead of enjoying
> the nice weather :)
>
> On a side note, a computer / Internet cafe opened in our town recently,
> and was in business for only a few weeks.  Apparently, people weren't
> willing to pay for something they could get at the library for free ;)
>
> Benjamin D. Sprague
> ----------------------
> Circulation Supervisor /
> Technology Services
> Ripon Public Library
> website: http://www.riponlibrary.org
> email:   sprague at riponlibrary.org
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Michael Sauers [mailto:msauers at bcr.org]
> Sent: Friday, August 06, 2004 9:48 AM
> To: Sprague at riponlibrary.org; 'Multiple recipients of list'
> Subject: RE: [WEB4LIB] Patrons causing problems with online gaming sites
>
> [...]
>
> The kids are causing trouble. Ban their behavior, which I'm sure you've
> already done, and/or ban the children from the computers and/or library
> as a
> punishment for the behavior. Don't punish all the kids by banning games
> since some of them are misbehaving.
>
> [...]