COMPUTER AND INTERNET ACCESS POLICY
WPL Policy 4.1, Amended 2/24/03, Amended 7/25/05, Amended 11/28/05, Amended 9/25/06, Amended 7/23/07, Amended 9/24/07, Amended 1/25/10, Amended 2/25/13
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The Westchester Public Library offers access to computers and the Internet in support of the Library’s Mission Statement, which articulates the broad principles for library programs and services provided for Westchester patrons. The Library endorses the principles outlined by the State of Illinois, the American Library Association and the Illinois Library Association. The Library will not tolerate the use of library equipment to access material that is obscene, pornographic, harmful to minors and/or subjects patrons or library employees to unwanted Internet images.

Patron Responsibility

• Patrons must have their own valid library card to log on to library-designated Internet computers.
• All use of electronic resources must be ethical and legal. The user must comply withcopyright law and licensing agreements
• The parents or legal guardians are responsible for their child’s reading, listening and viewing of library material, including the Internet content.
• Violations of this policy will result in suspension or termination of a patron’s library privileges, and the patron may be subject to prosecution.

Use of Equipment and Software

• Use of all Internet workstations in the Youth Department is for children and students through age 13.
• Use of all Internet workstations in the Adult Department is for age fourteen years and older.
• To protect performance and reliability, patrons may save only to external storage devices. Data saved to the hard drive is not retrievable. Access to the DOS prompt is restricted
• Only computer equipment and software owned and previously installed by Westchester Public Library may be used on WPL computers. Adding, deleting, copying, or modifying the installed hardware or software is not permitted.
• The Library is not responsible for damage to peripheral equipment or loss of data that may occur from use of the Library’s computers.
• The Library supplies paper for the printers. A fee will be charged for printing from any WPL computer.

Internet Specifics

• Internet access is available as an informational and educational resource.
• The Library does not permit electronic commerce or commercial activity. Exception: Lawful credit card purchases or orders of items by the user for personal use is permitted. However, sending any information, including credit card numbers, via the Internet is at the sole risk of the user. The Library has no control over the security of this data.
• As Internet resources are global in nature, the Library does not and cannot control the information available, including sources that may contain unreliable, offensive, controversial or inaccurate material. The selection, evaluation and use of information retrieved from the Internet are the sole responsibility of the patron, and subject to state and federal law.
• Violations of this policy will result in cancellation of a patron’s privilege to use the Internet. Examples include but are not limited to: harassment; violation of another patron’s rights; sending, receiving or displaying text or graphics which may reasonably be construed as obscene/offensive;and any action that tarnishes the library’s reputation.
• Parents and legal guardians are responsible for their child’s safety on the Internet and for monitoring and supervising their child’s use of the Internet.Literature on safe sites for children is available upon request.
• In the case of a child without a card, parental supervision and use of the parent’s library card are required for children age 9 and under .