Internet Policy
Given that the Internet is considered to be another form of information and another tool for reference, and given that some of the hardware has been provided to our library by funders who have requested that there be no charges for their use, public access will be free of charge.
Given that current standards in filtering software are prohibitive to effective research and given that it is not the responsibility of public librarians to censor access to information (see the Canadian Library Association’s Statement on Intellectual Freedom p. 2 of this manual), Internet access at the public library is neither monitored nor filtered. And given the intent of Didsbury Municipal Library’s policy # 13, any person under the age of 16 years wishing to use the Internet at a public access workstation, must have a parent or guardian complete a permission form and/or be accompanied by a parent. Proof of age can be requested by Library personnel.
All computer users must sign a Use Agreement Form, be issued a Computer Access Card, and may be asked to present the card in order to access the public workstations. (The only exception to this rule is access to the Child User Profile on the Gates Computer or the library’s CD ROM workstation, which have no Internet access.)
Library personnel may not always be available to help users with basic computer use or Internet access.
Misuse or abuse of the terminal, Internet access, and/or rules governing Internet access will result in suspension of Internet access privileges.