If you want to spend all day browsing through books in a branch of the Salt Lake County Library System, go right ahead.
But don't plan on hogging the system's new computer access lines.Saturday, the library will begin offering 10 dial-in computer lines so patrons can call up the library's electronic card catalog, Deseret News articles and texts from more than 400 magazines, or surf the Internet through the University of Utah's linkup.
Library officials are worried those lines won't be enough to handle the expected demand and are asking users to limit their time on-line.
"They can stay on longer, but we're asking them to limit it to 20 minutes," said Ronda Beckstead, the library's information systems manager.
Internet access will be for scanning purposes only, although screen contents can be printed. Downloading material, however, will not be possible, Beckstead said - another reason it may be difficult to keep people from tying up the lines.
Library director Eileen Longsworth said 15 additional lines will be added next week, and the library plans to have 40 lines within a year. That should be enough, she said.
"The (Salt Lake) City library opened with 10 lines about a year ago and they've been fine," Longsworth said. "Seattle Public has 25 and they're swamped, so we will monitor that and build on it as we need to."
Longsworth said about 150,000 library patrons have the ability to access the library's 24-hour online system.
Beckstead said library staff members will be available to take calls from people who need help accessing the catalog system from home.
"But when they get out on the Internet, we're learning just as much as they are," Beckstead said. "As long as they're in our (catalog) system, we can really be helpful in finding material."
Unfortunately for library officials, many patrons don't need help finding all sorts of material on the information superhighway, including pornography. Library privileges for any patron found accessing pornographic materials will be revoked, Longsworth said. Adults who expose minors to Internet pornography can face criminal charges as well. Library Board policy also prevents staff members from accessing pornographic materials on the Internet.
But Longsworth said library officials don't have a plan for monitoring users who access the Internet at home. She said parents are responsible for making sure their children don't dial computer porn through the library's system.
"The access via home use is limited, and we are blocking certain accesses," Longsworth said. "We're more concerned about the terminals that are in the library. We don't want someone walking away and leaving pornographic materials visible."
To access the county's online system, patrons need a personal computer, a communication software program and a modem with a minimum baud rate of 300. Faster rates, up to 14,400 bits per second, would be preferable.
The number to dial is 944-5051. Hitting the return key will bring up the welcome screen, then the login "lucas" must be entered in lowercase letters to display the menu screen.
A library card is not required to use the service.