RAPIDES PARISH LIBRARY

ELECTRONIC RESOURCES ACCESS AND INTERNET SAFETY POLICY

Mission

“Freedom of expression is an inalienable human right and the foundation for self-government. Freedom of expression encompasses the freedom of speech and the corollary right to receive information. These rights extend to children as well as adults.

Libraries and librarians exist to facilitate these rights by providing access to identifying, retrieving, organizing, and preserving recorded expression regardless of the formats of technologies in which that expression is recorded.”

(American Library Association Statement on Electronic Information, Services and Networks)

It is the mission of the Rapides Parish Library to provide informational, cultural, educational and recreational materials to the people of Rapides Parish. The library will continue its emphasis on books and other print materials, while also expanding audiovisual media and electronic resources to meet patron needs. The Rapides Parish Library is a local center for continuing self-education and a backup resource for students at all levels. The library does not attempt to maintain a historical repository for all human knowledge, but rather an active collection, meeting current and foreseeable needs.

The Library staff provides assistance with the use of library resources, collections, and materials, including a basic introduction of electronic resources.

Electronic Resources and Users’ Responsibility

All customers who qualify for a library card are required to have one in order to access the public PCs. Guests, who live outside our service area, and who are here temporarily, are provided with temporary access.

These resources contain a wealth of valuable information. However, users should be aware that some information may be inaccurate, outdated, or offensive. Use of these resources carries with it a responsibility to evaluate the quality of the information accessed.

Parents, not the library, are responsible for the use of these resources by their children.

Lawful use of electronic resources is the individual’s responsibility.

Acceptable Uses (Examples)

Customers are encouraged to use the workstations for the following purposes:

Research and educational information
Unstructured navigation (“surfing”) of the Internet to locate sites of interest and to hone usage skills.
Printing from full text databases
Downloading of public domain documents and software (with library staff permission).
Games

Safety of Minors

The Rapides Parish Library is particularly concerned about the potential effect on minors that some images and communications on the Internet may have. The Library has therefore taken measures designed to restrict minors’ access to materials harmful to them, and prohibits unauthorized disclosure, use, and dissemination of personal information regarding minors. The Library uses a technology protection measure that blocks and filters some sites on the Internet for the protection of minors. This technology may be disabled for adults engaged in bona fide research or other lawful purposes. This policy seeks to comply with the Children’s Internet Protection Act signed into law December 21, 2000.

Prohibited Uses

Customers may not use the workstations in the following ways:

Illegal, unauthorized, unethical or commercial purposes
Manipulation of internal hardware and/or software including downloading of any software.
Transmission or downloading of any material in violation of state or federal laws.
Sending, receiving, or displaying text or graphics which may reasonably be construed to be obscene or objectionable by local community standards.
Copying or downloading of any material in violation of copyright law. (Downloading of software and files not in the public domain is a violation of copyright law and is expressly prohibited.)
Gambling

Workstation use is a privilege and should be treated as such by all users of the system. Library staff has the right to determine the appropriateness of workstation use and can at any time require a customer to leave the workstation. The Library reserves the right to prohibit violators of these conditions of use from future access to the Library’s computers and online services. In accordance with the Library’s general policy, appeals of such loss should be addressed in writing to the Library Director. Perpetrators of malicious damage to the system will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

Limitations

TIME: Because of the limited number of workstations, time limits will be imposed when demand is high. When there are customers waiting, the limit will be thirty minutes, after which the user must give way to the next customer awaiting a turn. After two such uses, a third use is contingent on giving priority access to customers coming in for their first use of the day.
FILTERS: Filtering software can limit access to potentially objectionable material. Reflecting community standards, filtering software has been installed on all workstations. In addition, Library staff, using selections criteria found in the Materials Selection Policy, may select websites to block. However, the installation of filtering software and manual blocking by Library staff are not to be taken as a guarantee that objectionable material cannot be accessed.
EXTERNAL STORAGE DEVICES: Privately owned external storage devices such as iPods, MP3 players, flash drives or similar devices without executable files may be used.

Virus Warning

Although the Library uses a program that checks for viruses, there is no guarantee that files downloaded from the Internet will not contain a virus. The Library is not responsible for any damages that may arise from saving or downloading files to privately owned external storage device.

Costs

There is no charge for use of the workstations nor to access the information therein. However, customers shall assume the printing costs at the rate of 15 cents a page for black and white printouts, and $1.00 a page for color printouts. Flash memory drives are available for purchase at the Library’s cost.

Customer Rights

Electronic information technology is emerging, expanding and changing constantly. The Rapides Parish Library Board of Control encourages customers to make use of the new technology and welcomes comments and suggestions regarding policies governing use. Comments and suggestions may be made to the library staff or administration in person, over the telephone, or in writing.

Customers wishing to object formally to images, texts or other content of the Library’s automated resources may fill out the “Citizen’s Request for Review of Electronic Resources” form and submit it to a staff member.

Adopted by the Rapides Parish Library Board of Control

June 16, 1998

Revised September 19, 2000

August 21, 2001

December 11, 2001

May 21, 2002

August 20, 2002

September 17, 2002

June 15, 2004

August 17, 2004

June 21, 2005

March 20, 2007