MCPL: Public PC Booking and Use Policies

Time Limits | Booking Specific Workstations | Printing | Refunds

The Library has session management software which books library workstations for a specific timed session. This software also manages payment for printing. Customers must have their library card (or their library card number) and PIN to use the Internet, Word, Excel, or print from any PC. The intent of the software is to streamline the Internet signup process and make it possible for customers to serve themselves without waiting for a staff member to assist them. Staff will provide library card numbers to customers who do not have their library card with them but who have appropriate identification and wish to use the public computers.

Time Limits

1.All library card customer types (regular, teacher, household, and nonresident) will have 120 minutes total per day to use the Internet and Word/Excel PC's in Montgomery County Public Library branches. This is in two 60 minute sessions. When a session is nearly over, there will be a message alerting the user to save materials before the session is ended. If there is no waiting list for the computers, the user will then be asked if they would like another 60 minute session. If so, the user will log on again at the same internet station they were previously logged on. If there is a waiting list, the session will end at the end of the allotted time. The user is then welcome to return to the Pharos sign in station and sign up for another one hour session. Customers may use the computers in several sessions, but the total time allotted is 120 minutes per day. The time limit on Internet/Word/Excel PC's is:

30 minutes on a Children's Room PC;
15 minutes on an Express PC; and
120 minutes on an Adult PC in two one hour sessions.

2. There is no time limit on the use of the catalog/database PC's, unless a customer monopolizes the machine to the point where other customers are unable to access it.

Booking Specific Workstations

1. Customers wishing to use the ADA PC will identify themselves to the Information Desk staff and will be placed first in the wait list for that specific machine after the customer using the machine is finished. Customers with the special ADA sticker on the library card can be given up to 30 minutes additional time on the PC.

2. Children, ages 12 and under, will first be assigned to a PC in the Children's Room by the session management software. If all PC's in the Children's Room are in use, the child will be assigned to a PC in the Adult area. If a child wishes to use a Children's Room PC instead of the assigned Adult Area PC, the child must make this request to an Information Desk staff member, who will place that child next in the wait list for a Children's Room PC.

3. No one over 12 years old may use an Internet PC in the children’s area unless an adult is accompanying a child age 12 or under.

Printing

1. Printing from all Internet PCs, catalog and database PC's, Word PCs, and language lab PCs will be $.15 per page.

2. Circulation records, information about customer accounts, ILL information, and up to three pages of information to answer customer information/reference questions will be printed free by staff at the service desks.

3. $15 (equals 100 pages at $.15) is the recommended print value maximum that can be added at one time to a customer's session management account.

4. $.15 (equals 1 page) is the print value minimum that can be added at one time to a customer's session management account.

5. The minimum check amount that will be accepted for session management printing is $1.00; the minimum cash payment that will be accepted for session management printing is $.15.

6. Money added to a customer's session management account will not be refunded if it is not used.

Refunds

Montgomery County Public Libraries will only issue refunds for copies or prints made on the Multifunctional Devices (MFD) if the machine produced a blurred, black, or otherwise unreadable copy of whatever the customer was copying/printing or if the paper on which the job was copied or printed exited the machine torn or wrinkled. .

Customers who are printing on the MFD should always use print preview prior to queuing print jobs to make sure that the number of pages is correct (no blank pages showing) and that the text on the page is complete. Printing of a blank page or a page with missing text does not constitute a bad copy for refund purposes.