Internet Access at the Library

MCPL Internet and Computer Use Policy - Website Selection Guidelines

Dear Parents...

Internet access at the Monroe County Public Library is provided in accordance with the Monroe County Public Library's adoption of the Library Bill of Rights and the American Library Association's interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights as it applies to Access to Electronic Information, Services and Networks. In support of the Freedom to Read and The Universal Right To Free Expression, Internet resources accessible through the Monroe County Public Library are provided equally to all library users, regardless of age. As with other library materials, parents or guardians, not the library or its staff, are responsible for monitoring their children's selection of information on the Internet. Parents -- and only parents -- may restrict their children -- and only their children -- from accessing Internet resources via the library's connection to the Internet. We suggest that parents who are concerned about the types of materials available on the Internet, supervise their children's Internet sessions.

You may also want to review the Child Safety on the Information Highway online brochure, produced by the The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and discuss the section called "My Rules for Online Safety" with your child. More detailed information about children's use of the Internet is available from Children Online: The ABCs for Parents

For more information to help you and your child learn about the Internet and how to use it wisely, see: Learn about the Internet and Internet Safety.

Children's Department Website Selection Guidelines

The websites that we link to from the MCPL Children's Services web pages have been selected to reflect the interests and information needs of the children we serve. Because we serve a wide age range of children -- from pre-school to middle school, some of the sites featured here may be more appropriate for older children than younger. What we consider before we link to a remote site: While the sites we list on the MCPL Children's Services pages are ones we recommend for children, we do not control the information that is produced on remote websites. Unless you see "Monroe County Public Library" listed at the bottom of the page, the site is produced by an outside source. Web pages that are produced by the MCPL Children's Department also state MCPL Children's Services in the upper left corner of the page.

We review websites for children as much as we are able, but it's impossible for us to have complete knowledge of everything on the World Wide Web. So please, tell us what we've missed and what else you would like to see here.

If you have any questions about this statement, or about accessing the Internet in the library, please stop by the reference desk and speak with a librarian. Thank you.