Mission of St. Mary’s County Library
- To provide lifelong learning centers where people of all ages have access to ideas, information and materials that stimulate social and intellectual growth and satisfy their individual quest for knowledge.
In order to achieve this mission, the St. Mary’s County Library provides access to the Internet at all of its library branches. To regulate the use of this resource, the Board of Trustees for the St. Mary’s County Library created and approved this Internet Safety Policy. All users of the Internet in a St. Mary’s County Library branch must agree to follow this Internet Safety Policy before they are able to enjoy the Library’s Internet Resources. This policy brings the library into compliance with the federal law CIPA (Children’s Internet Protection Act, 2000) and Maryland Law Article 23, Section 506.1.
Acceptable Use
The Internet is an ungoverned and unregulated source of information. Library users must recognize their increased responsibility when using this resource. Librarians and filtering software cannot completely control what the user will see on the Internet. Users must continually evaluate the information they retrieve, both the validity as well as the suitability of the information, according to their own standards. Users should also be aware that, while they have the right of confidentiality as to the information they seek and receive, security on the Internet is technically difficult and Internet transactions can become public.
The St. Mary’s County Library’s Internet Safety Policy does not allow the following activity:
- Access and display of materials that are obscene or constitute child pornography as defined by federal statutes, 18 U. S. Code, Sections 1460 and 2256, and Maryland Annotated Code, Criminal Law Article, Title 11, subtitle 2, Obscene Matter.
- Inappropriate use of chat.
- Violation of copyright laws or software licensing agreements.
- Making changes to the set-up or configuration of the software or hardware of the library’s public access computers.
- Activity which seeks unauthorized access to any computer system to damage or alter software components of any network database, or to use computer resources for any other purpose deemed unacceptable by the library in consideration of the best interests of the public.
- Activity which is disruptive, offensive, libelous, or slanderous.
- Activity which violates another user’s privacy.
- Unauthorized disclosure, use and dissemination of personal identification information regarding minors.
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Technology Protection Measure (TPM)
The St. Mary’s County Library provides a Technology Protection Measure (TPM), also referred to as filtering software, on all Internet access computers in all the library branches. Users of the Internet, however, should be aware of the following:
- No TPM guarantees all obscene and pornographic sites will be blocked.
- TPMs might block some sites that might not be considered obscene or pornographic.
- Parents or guardians are the final authority and it is their responsibility to determine what is best for their children. No technological solution can match a family’s individual values and preferences.
The TPM purchased by the St. Mary’s County Library electronically controls the number of www sites available to users based on the birth date recorded on their library card registration form. The sites are blocked to meet the following requirements of the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA):
- ALL customers will have sites blocked which contain obscene and pornographic visual depictions as chosen by the filtering software vendor. These cannot be changed by the library staff.
- Customers under 17 years will have additional sites blocked which contain visual images that are considered harmful to minors.
- Customers over 16 years old may request from a librarian that the TPM be disabled. The library staff is not able to “unblock” or “block” specific www sites.
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Termination or Prohibition of User Access
Library employees are authorized to terminate any user’s access session or take any other appropriate action to ensure compliance with this policy. Internet users whose access session has been terminated may request a review of the action. There is a formal procedure for filing a complaint regarding Internet access.
Approved by St. Mary’s County Library Board of Trustees
Date: July 7, 2004
This policy supersedes the Internet Policy adopted November 19, 2002.
The St. Mary’s County Library Board of Trustees began to draft this Internet Safety Policy in February 2004. It was discussed at every monthly meeting, through July 7th, which are open to the public and are announced in the newspaper and on the library bulletin boards. The final policy was approved at the public Board meeting held on July 7, 2004. This policy brings the library into compliance with the federal law Children’s Internet Protection Act, 2000 and Maryland Law Article 23, Section 506.1. This policy is available in every library branch.
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