[Publib] My Space and U Tube

[John Leonard]

Hi everyone
I don't know about all social networking sites. I do know that MySpace is not available in the children's room in my library.

I have "banned" MySpace from my personal life after getting sick of all the ads they have that border on pornography, and getting one too many "friend" requests from people with names like Destiny, Desiree and Sweetie. But just this afternoon I got an email from a colleague asking me to join yet another such site, this one called Quechup, which is already looking as bad as Myspace. So how can you say you've banned all such.

Finally, criminals can find some "off-label" use in just about any Web site. Some young thieves in Ashland used Google to map out the routes they would take as they broke into houses. So it's tough, and no move you make will satisfy everyone. Banning MySpace does let people know you're serious.

John Leonard
Circulation Assistant
Ashland Public Library

>> The Greenville (SC) Public library just recently banned all social
>> networking sites like My Space and Facebook. We did this for 3 reasons:
>>   
>>   1.  patrons complaints about what is being viewed
>>   
>>   2. repeated violations of the Library Code of Conduct
>>   
>>   3. Gangs are using these sites to coordinate activity.
>>   
>>   I sure our library isn't the only one having these problems with My
>> Space, etc. How have you dealt with these issues?
>>   
>>   Angela Williams
>>   Library Assistant III
>>   Greenville County Library System
>>   Greenville, SC
>>   awilliams at greenvillelibrary.org


____________

John Leonard
108 Summer St.
Maynard, MA 01754
978.461.1732
john.leonard19 at verizon.net