A Low Tech Answer to a High Tech Problem

Abstract

This article describes how to fairly allocate Internet Access Workstations once a library decides to have them. The various plans used by the San Francisco Main Library are discussed. After many trials and errors, the San Francisco Main Library has developed a low tech, low cost plan for equitably allocating Internet Access Workstations. Any library with one public Internet Terminal to fifty public Internet Terminals can use this plan. This plan benefits both staff and patrons by having a compromise in assuming responsibility for monitoring the stations. Computer programs used for this purpose are expensive and are only available from a handful of companies. The faults in these programs are discussed.