From: Rennie, Margaret Sent: Thursday, February 08, 2007 3:02 PM To: 'Katherine Stemmer-Frumento' Subject: RE: CHAT: Have You Been Blocked from Websites on the Job? We occasionally have bandwidth problems, so we are sometimes excluded from MySpace and YouTube. I don't think the intention is to ban us completely, but, let's face it, we can certainly live without these. *grin* When I worked at a hospital a number of years ago in the early days of PubMed, etc. I needed an article from the most recent BMJ for a physician. Since our copy always took a while to reach us, I jumped onto their website to print it, only to find that I was banned from the page because the article was on "groin strain". I investigated further and found they were banning every page that mentioned body parts - including such inflammatory ones such as thigh, breast, and leg. Guess what? I couldn't even look at Kentucky Fried Chicken's website! Oh, the good old days! Margaret Margaret Rennie Delgado Community College Charity School of Nursing Library 450 South Claiborne Ave New Orleans, LA 70112 (504) 568-6430 FAX (504) 568-5494 Email: [log in to unmask] -----Original Message----- From: Medical Libraries Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Katherine Stemmer-Frumento Sent: Thursday, February 08, 2007 2:46 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: CHAT: Have You Been Blocked from Websites on the Job? Ah, a subject close to my heart!!! Approximately 6 months ago, my IT department installed Websense on all of the hospital's computers. Just about everything on the Web was blocked, including all of the library's databases, most journals, newspapers, all outside email accounts, etc. If someone wanted a Web site unblocked he/she had to send an email message to the IT's helpdesk with the request, which had to include the URL to be unblocked. So, for a few days, I spent a lot of my time either emailing the helpdesk with numerous URL's and/or listening to many doctors, nurses, etc. ranting about the #$%#$# IT department. The library is centrally located in the hospital and used by the general public along with the hospital staff. New fathers couldn't email family members about the birth of their babies, family members of surgical patients couldn't email family (you get the picture). After a few days of headaches and chaos, I emailed the helpdesk, cc'ing the CIO, CEO, COO, VP of Nursing & my boss, the VP of Medial Affairs, asking that exceptions be made for the library. The COO issued a request to the IT department to honor my request. After much deliberation, it was decided to take two of the library's computers off of the system to allow access to the outside world. I also requested that newspaper URL's and news sites, such as CNN also be allowed back on all of the system computers. This request was also honored. To date, everyone has settled down for the most part. Occasionally, a doctor or nurse comes in ranting about not being able to access a site from a computer on one of the nursing floors. Due to the two computers with full access, the library is now the most popular place in the hospital. And yes, there is a sign at the computers requesting a limit of 15 minutes when other people are waiting. Aren't you glad you asked? Katherine Stemmer Frumento, MLS, MBA, AHIP Director, Library Services Greenwich Hospital 5 Perryridge Road Greenwich, CT 06830 203-863-3285 (v) 203-863-4522 (f) [log in to unmask] -----Original Message----- From: Medical Libraries Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Donna Beales Sent: Thursday, February 08, 2007 3:19 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: CHAT: Have You Been Blocked from Websites on the Job? I have been reading with interest the recent deluge of emails regarding ILLs on Medlib-l. I particularly remember a new librarian's comments that he hoped Medlib would give insights on serious library topics. In that spirit, here comes one of the most serious things I've experienced in my eight years of doing this job. I was asked for information on LSA. We only knew that someone had taken it in some form and was now experiencing an adverse reaction. We also had the initials "HBWR." That was all. Not knowing anything more than that, I first turned to Google using "LSA" as the search term. As it turns out, LSA is a readily available herbal product (Hawaiian Baby Woodrose). In this case, when I tried to access a few sites to learn more, perhaps a chemical name, I was blocked by the organization's filtering software. Fortunately, I got lucky for in the site descriptors Google provides I located a Latin plant name & could take it from there using the Natural Medicines Database. I understand my employer's need to control access to the Internet, and certainly a usual search of this nature by an employee is likely to be suspect, but in this case time was of the essence in determining treatment. Has anyone else experienced this issue? I would appreciate hearing more from all sides of this concern. Take care, all-- Donna L. Beales, MLIS Lowell General Hospital Health Science Library 295 Varnum Ave. Lowell, MA 01854 978-937-6247 Fax: 978-937-6855 [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> www.lowellgeneral.org/library <http://www.lowellgeneral.org/library> ********************************************************************** This message originates from Yale New Haven Health System. The information contained in this message may be privileged and confidential. If you are the intended recipient, you must maintain this message in a secure and confidential manner. 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