ABSTRACT

Facilitating access to the Internet is an important part of the public library mission, and is crucial in ensuring that all citizens have the possibility of access to contemporary digital information and public services. Part of managing this access relies on the Acceptable Use Policy (AUP), an agreement between the library and the user regarding the conditions of access. This article reports on a national UK study of public library AUPs and the development of a new national model policy for public libraries, and which can be considered as ‘best practice’. The article reports analysis of AUPs across the UK, with specific focus on how they communicate the use of filtering, and surveillance. This research adds new insight by studying the content of AUPs and contributes to the limited research that exists on public library AUPs in the UK. The research analyzed AUPs from 205 authorities in the UK, a return rate of 99.5%. The resulting conclusions and synthesis of relevant guidance on AUPs led to the formation of the model policy presented in this article.

摘要

促进对互联网的访问是公共图书馆使命的重要组成部分，对于确保所有公民都有可能获得当代数字信息和公共服务至关重要。管理此访问的一部分依赖于可接受使用政策 (AUP)，这是图书馆与用户之间关于访问条件的协议。本文报道了英国对公共图书馆 AUP 的一项全国性研究以及公共图书馆新的国家模式政策的制定，这可以被视为“最佳实践”。该文章报告了对英国各地 AUP 的分析，特别关注它们如何传达过滤和监视的使用。这项研究通过研究 AUP 的内容增加了新的见解，并有助于对英国公共图书馆 AUP 的有限研究。该研究分析了来自英国 205 个当局的 AUP，回报率为 99.5%。由此得出的结论和对 AUP 相关指南的综合导致了本文中提出的示范政策的形成。