IP-PUB - Infopeople Public Service Archive: (Fwd) Re: Free email

(Fwd) Re: Free email

Infopeople PUB List (ippubman@library.berkeley.edu)
Sun, 8 Sep 1996 11:24:06 -0700

Sender: Cecil Andrews <candrews@redshift.com>
Subject: Re: Free email

I understand your concerns, Cary, but I think that HotMail is a tool that
can be of great value to the majority of our patrons. The solution to the
privacy issue is simple if they are aware that there is no privacy. I'll
grant you that if an email user wants to send a message in strict
confidentiality and privacy then the public library is not the proper forum.
My concern is the vast number of patrons who do not have access to any other
form of electronic communication outside their public library. We've held
off dealing with the issue of email for these people due to the return
address dilemma and our own concerns for liability. This solves both of
those problems. We are now able to provide patrons a very simple way to
reply to job announcements, request information about research topics, get
advise, participate in mailing lists, and correspond with their peers
throughout the world. We view our libraries as the Community Information
Center - if it is not our mandate to provide this information resource then
whose is it? Feed back please!!

At 07:11 AM 9/6/96 -0700, you wrote:
>Sender: Cary Gordon <cgordon@CERF.NET>
>Subject: Re: Free email
>
>It is my personal opinion that, with one very busy public access machine in
>our library, this is not truly what the doctor ordered and is, in all
>likelihood, a can o'worms as well. I just don't think that our mandate
>extends to providing email even if technology exists to make it doable.
>
>For example, we could let users use this (they will anyway, but that is
>another matter) and have them clear the cache after each user, but I, for
>one, want users less, not more, involved with the innards of the software.
>In fact, I would love to disable these options altogether.

Cecil Andrews, MIS Manager, City of Seaside
Community Partner, Seaside Library Internet Project (SLIP)
(408)899-6249
http://bbs.ci.seaside.ca.us/

"The distant lights, as yet unseen, are the reason for our travels."