Evaluating the use of public PC workstations at the Arizona State University Libraries

From the moment the ASU Libraries migrated from dumb terminals to PC workstations for access to electronic resources, there was great concern that these workstations would be used “inappropriately”. Whether students should be allowed to check their e‐mail from the workstations was debated, as was the need to restrict access to the Internet. The Information Technology division at the University was concerned with how the Library would provide accountability for anything that happened at a public workstation. After much discussion, it was decided that the Library PC workstations would provide unrestricted access to the Internet. Telnet access was limited to library‐related resources requiring Telnet, in an effort to keep students from doing computing assignments and personal e‐mail on these workstations. The systems department developed an approach to data collection that included both an observational system and an electronic data collection system, using sampling techniques, to collect data on the use of the PC workstations at the main library (Hayden) at Arizona State University. This presentation will describe the data collection techniques, the results of data analysis, and how the results of data analysis are being used to better manage the PC workstations in the Library.