Use a computer

The Ida Grove Public Library is committed to providing patrons with informational, educational, cultural, and recreational resources in a free and accessible manner. To pursue this mission, the library seeks to expand individual access to information through the use of current technologies, such as public access computer stations, hardwired and wireless internet access, online research databases, computer applications, and printing. These technologies enable the library to provide global ideas beyond the limits of its own collection.

The library has four desktop computers and four laptops computers available for public use in the library. All provide unfiltered Internet access. We also provide free wireless access, so feel free to bring your own devices and get hooked up on your own. 

 

Requirements for Use

  • Sign up at the library circulation desk is required. 
  • There is a time limit on the use of computers. Time may be extended for extenuating circumstances if other computers are available. Please notify library staff if you need extended time limits.
  • Users may not change the configuration of software or hardware on the Internet computers.
  • Patrons must have their own disks or drives in order to save files – both from the Internet and for word processing. ABSOLUTELY NO downloading to the hard drives of the library computers. 
  • Staff reserves the right to end a session if inappropriate material displays on the screen. Public access stations and the Internet may be used for legal purposes only.
  • Printing charges apply to all copies made on library equipment; payment is made at the circulation desk.
  • Children six years of age and under must be in the immediate presence of a parent or other responsible caregiver over the age of 12.
  • Public Access Computers located in the children’s library are to be used by children under the age of sixteen. Anyone sixteen years of age and older may use the children’s library computers only if accompanied by a child.
  • The AWE Early Literacy Stations and AfterSchool Edge Tablets in the children’s library are for children ages 2-12 only. Children six years of age and under must be supervised by a parent/caregiver at all times. 

 

Good to Know:

  • The library board of trustees and staff of the Ida Grove Public Library support the American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights and all of its interpretations, including Access to Electronic Information, Services, and Networks. 
  • Filters are not installed on any computer at the Ida Grove Public Library, including those in the children’s room.
  • As an information resource, the internet is not within the scope of the library’s Material Selection and Collection Management Policy. Therefore, the library is unable to assume responsibility for the quality of information accessed through the internet.

 

Acceptable Use

The freedom to access information is a fundamental right; the use of library equipment is a privilege. Users shall respect the rights of other computer users, library patrons, and staff, in keeping with the library’s behavior code. This includes the use of personal devices that use the wireless capacity of the library. Users shall respect the policies, rights, and conventions of all the organizations and individuals who use the internet.


Offensive Material

Although the freedom to access information is a fundamental right, library users must exercise that right responsibly by respecting the rights of others. The library will not censor access to the internet. Nevertheless, as a department of the City of Ida Grove, the library is committed to providing an environment free from harassment. Display of sexually explicit graphics or otherwise offensive material is inappropriate for an open public environment and is prohibited. Although the library takes harassment violations very seriously, there will be no supervision by the library of what is accessed via the library’s public access computers. This responsibility falls to library patrons. 

 

Children and the Internet

A public library, unlike a school, does not serve 'in loco parentis' (in place of a parent). Librarians cannot act in the place of a parent in providing constant supervision of children as they explore the internet. The responsibility for what minors view and access on the internet rests with parents or guardians. Parents are advised, but not required, to accompany children using the internet at the library in order to monitor the content of the information to which their children are exposed. 

 

Privacy

While the library cannot guarantee the privacy of data or computer usage of the public access computers, it considers such privacy to be extremely important. The library follows best practices to secure the network and its computers and to ensure that search histories are erased between computer sessions. The library does not retain computer reservation/use records beyond one day. It is also clearly stated in the Computer and Technology Use Policy that infringement upon the rights and privacy of others is an unacceptable use of these resources. 

 

Read our full Computer and Technology Use Policy