The document discusses how libraries have adapted to providing internet access to patrons. It notes that librarians now use the internet and web to answer reference questions and provide access to new materials. Many libraries have made internet access a top priority to meet patron needs. As a result, libraries now facilitate self-education and enrichment by offering free access to online resources through public workstations. The Library of Congress provides internet access through workstations intended for research use only in accordance with its conduct policies.

1. Online Public
Areas
Prepared to: Dr. Augusta Rosario A. Villamater
Prepared by: Angelique L. Guce
BLIS-II

2. Internet
a computer-based
worldwide
information network,
has had an
enormous impact on
libraries.

3.  Librariansuse the Internet
and its multimedia
component, the World Wide
Web, to answer reference
questions and to provide
access to materials not
previously available to their
patrons.

4. On university campuses, investment in personal computers and

high-speed local area networks (LANs) provided students and
faculty with the ability to access vast new sources of information via
the Internet.

5. Many libraries have
attempted to meet
that challenge by
making Internet
access a top priority.

6.  As a result, libraries have
extended their traditional roles
of facilitating self-education
and individual enrichment by
providing low-cost or free
computer access to online
resources such as
government, consumer,
medical, and legal information.

7. Public workstations for
searching the Internet as
well as the Library's
online catalog are
available in the Library's
reading rooms, and in
the Computer Catalog
Centers

8.  The Library of Congress
provides access to the
Internet in these locations
as a resource for Library
researchers, including
Congress and the public;
the workstations are
intended for research and
reference use only.

9.  Inaccordance with
Library of Congress
Regulation 1812,
"Conduct on Library
Premises," recreational
use of the Library's public
Internet workstations is
prohibited.

10.  Before using the
Internet at the Library
of Congress,
researchers should
consult the Library's
conditions for use for
its public Internet
workstations.