Policy on the Use of Public Computers

The Walker Management Library strives to support Vanderbilt University’s educational mission by providing public workstations with the primary purpose being to provide students, faculty, staff, alumni, and corporate clients’ access to information that supports research, administration, instruction, consultation, job-seeking, and the dissemination of scholarship.

The Walker Management Library also endorses the Library Bill of Rights and the Freedom to Read statement of the American Library Association. We do not monitor or filter information accessed through the public workstations and can not be held liable for the content or quality of information accessed.

To ensure effective and efficient access to information, we have established the following guidelines:

• Computers are already logged in with a generic library username/password.
• Computers should not be used to store information. All downloaded files and changes to bookmarks, browser homepages, etc., are deleted upon logout to protect the privacy of our clients. Users may save files to their personal intranet space on the Owen network or to their VUspace. In addition, users may save files to portable storage devices such as USB thumb drives or to blank CD-ROMs. All the computers have CD/DVD burners. Blank CD-Rs are available at the Service Desk.
• Library computers are not intended for non-course related uses such as personal email, instant messaging, game playing, or other recreational uses.
• To ensure access to electronic research tools, the Bloomberg terminals are restricted for use on Bloomberg only. The stand-up computer station is intended for quick look-ups in Acorn or a database. The workstation with the scanner is intended for scanning use only.
• During high-use times, users may be asked to limit the amount of time spent on public workstations.