From: mfriley@pacman.WPI.EDU (Margaret F Riley)
Newsgroups: soc.libraries.talk
Subject: Re: Providing internet access in a library
Date: 23 Jul 92 16:43:26 GMT
Organization: Worcester Polytechnic Institute

In article <1992Jul22.045622.4307@ddsw1.mcs.com> zane@ddsw1.mcs.com (Sameer Parekh) writes:
>
>	I think this is doable.. to provide internet access to the PEOPLE,
>one can set up telnet servers in a library.  Depending on how much it costs,
>one can either charge users a fee for a telnet-card, or if it cheap they can
>just use their library card. (In this way there isn't the problem of not
>knowing who is using the telnet server and system cracking is traceable to a
>specific person.)
>	People can be informed about cheap internet-UNIX accounts, including
>netcom which is only about $20/month but tough to use, or The Well, which
>charges an hourly fee but has some extra newsgroups which, because of the
>smaller community, have a higher signal-to-noise ratio.
>	I don't think this would be all that expensive, given that a leased
>line will only cost some $250/mont.. I have no idea how much terminals
>cost.  Additionally, if people don't want to an account, they can still
>telnet to MUDs, the IRC, or archie and ftp some information which they need.
>(The plan I have about ftp is kinda unclear-- have a floppy drive attached
>to the terminal so that ftp can store files on floppies which the user
>brings in or buys, and have printers (quiet ones, of course) so that people
>without computers at home can print out the files they retrieve via ftp..
>	What do librarians think of this idea?

Personally, I think you are asking the libraries to take on something that
they do not have the time nor money to support.  Have you talked to a 
public librarian about how their budget is lately?   In case the news has
not yet reached Chicago, most libraries in the US are losing funding 
because of budget cuts.   I would like to know why you think libraries
should provide this type of service?   

Have you experienced paying a fee for a service in your public library?
Many libraries cannot afford to send out requests for interlibrary loan
materials at no cost to the patron any more.   Libraries are also fighting
a losing battle with publishers of books and journals over rising costs.
Libraries are not given the same price breaks that bookstores are, and
frequently an intitution is charged a higher price for a journal subscription
than an individual subscriber because the publisher feels it is justified
since several people will be using the journal.  How about if the library
charged you a fee to read a journal because it is charged a higher fee?
Stinks, huh?    It is not that libraries don't want to provide everything
that their patrons desire, it is simply that there is not enough money
to purchase or lease things, there is not enough money to maintain the
equipment that is needed, and there is not enough money to hire the necessary
additional staff to support these services.


>	(I'm just a high school student who is going to the local library
>nealy every three days-- It's summer I MUST READ!!)

I applaud you for this.   There are so few students now who read, and
you have written a very good posting.   It is just that in the real world
the libraries do not have enough money.  Period.

Margaret F. Riley                       +   "Where is human nature so
Circulation Librarian                   +     weak as in the bookstore!"
Worcester Polytechnic Institute         +
Worcester, MA   01609                   +    Henry Ward Beecher
mfriley@wpi.wpi.edu                     +        1813-1887