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Acceptable Use Guidelines

Purpose

Mead Public Library provides free public access to Internet resources in fulfillment of its mission to provide collections and services designed to meet the educational and recreational needs of City of Sheboygan residents regardless of their age or formal schooling.

The Board has adopted Acceptable Use Guidelines that are subject to change from time to time without prior notice to the public. These Guidelines are maintained by the Library Director or designee who assures that they are available to the public in printed and online versions.

Ethical Use

Mead Public Library requires that all use of the Internet will be responsible, ethical, legal and consistent with the purpose for which these resources are provided. Such use includes:

Using resources for informational, educational and recreational purposes only, not for commercial purposes or for unauthorized, illegal or unethical purposes.
Respecting the privacy of others by not misrepresenting oneself as another user; by not attempting to modify or gain access to fields, passwords, or data belonging to the Library or others; by not seeking unauthorized access to any computer system or damaging or altering software components of any network or database.
Making only authorized copies of copyrighted or licensed software or data.
Not making changes to the setup or configuration of the software or hardware provided by Mead Public Library.

Not using one’s own software on the workstation or installing or downloading any software or any files to the hard drive.

Respecting the privacy of others using public Internet research workstations by not interfering with their use.

Terms of Use

The Library staff is responsible for the development of such rules and procedures in concert with Library Board policies as are necessary to insure the fair, responsible and reasonable use of Internet resources.

The Library reserves the right to limit access to selected services at its sole discretion and without prior notice to the public. It does not support or troubleshoot e-mail or software programs that may be available to the public via the public workstations. However members of the public are encouraged to report problems that may indicate an underlying problem with software or equipment which staff members will evaluate and address.

As with other Library services and materials, monitoring of a minor child's access to the Internet is the responsibility of that child’s parent or legal guardian. In general, children use the resources housed in the Landwehr Children's Library Center until they have completed Grade 6. Older children use the resources in other areas of the building.

The Library has purchased and installed software which it uses to filter (or prevent the display of) pornography on the public Internet research workstation(s) located in the Landwehr Children’s Library Center. However this does not guarantee that pornography and other inappropriate or offensive material will not be accessed unintentionally or otherwise.

Just as the Library cannot guarantee the accuracy or continuing availability of information in its print-on-paper and other owned collections, it cannot guarantee the accuracy or continuing availability of information viewed or obtained via the Internet. Furthermore, while Mead Public Library selects items for its owned collections, it has no control whatsoever over the information available on the Internet. Internet resources include much valuable information but they may also contain information which is inaccurate, outdated, controversial or offensive.

Mead Public Library is not responsible for the intentional or inadvertent exposure of children or adults to offensive material accessed by themselves or others on the Internet.

Downloaded files may include viruses that can damage personal computer systems if used at home, at school or at work. Mead Public Library assumes no liability or responsibility for any loss or damage to the customer’s data or equipment or for any other injury that may occur from use of or exposure to Internet resources at the Library.

While respecting an individual’s right to the limited privacy available in a public environment, the Library reserves the right of its staff members to monitor use of public Internet research workstations to ensure compliance with Library policies, guidelines and procedures. Staff members may ask users to stop using Library equipment if they observe any behavior which they judge to be in conflict with these.

In accordance with the Mead Public Library's “Code of Conduct” staff members may ask users to remove from the screen any display that is not appropriate for viewing in a public space. Misuse and abuse of Library computers or Internet access may result in suspension or revocation of Internet access as well as other Library privileges. Illegal uses will be reported to the appropriate authorities.

Library staff members cannot provide in-depth training in Internet or personal computer skills. The staff may be able to offer basic searching suggestions and answer questions about Internet resources, but may not be familiar with every application customers may wish to use. Due to scheduling constraints, there may not be an experienced Internet-trained staff member on duty at all times.

Members of the public are responsible for payment of any fees related to their Internet use at the Library, including but not limited to the cost of printing at the current price-per-page which is subject to change without notice.

*Subject to change without notice

Mead Public Library Internet Safety Policy