Salvete!
>We would like to offer Internet gaming, for the first time ever, in our
Children's area. We have 6
>computers that have had pre-packaged software games in the past. There
has been a lot of concern
>expressed by our administrators and technology coordinator regarding
this request to offer Internet
>gaming. We talked about having whitelists or blacklists for certain
games, but that seems unmanageable.
>We want to make the computers as open as possible, without causing harm
to the computers or the kids.
>Can anyone help me by directing me to library Web sites that have
clear-cut policies for game-playing on
>public computers? Any guidance will be most welcome.
I know that you are looking for policy specifics BUT, I'm going to add
this in hopes that it might help.
A good way to keep an online simple gaming experience positive, and
please your information bloodhound Librarians at the same time, is to
ferret out a links list. It may seem old fashioned, but if you provide
links on the Library website to things that are appealing as games and
in line with your vision, people will use them. It won't get everyone,
but you'll notice that a number of Patrons will use what you link. As
with everything in gaming, the top priority has to be fun. You'll also
find that if you're slightly nosy, you'll discover sites that your
Patrons knew about first and you'll be able to tack those on to the link
list.
Cheers,
Brooke