A Filter for $108,000? "Smart Cards" Boost Cost

Staff -- Library Journal, 1/11/1999

How can a filtering system cost $108,000? The Englewood Public Library, CO, plans in April to take Cyber Patrol software off computers in the children's room and instead install GuardiaNet software that can limit children to a database of 5000 kid-friendly sites (see previous LJ Digital story). Parents will have the option to allow their children full or limited Internet access. Most of the cost for the system, library Director Hank Long told LJ, comes from the "Smart Cards" that all patrons will use, plus the cost of the card-issuing station. The library will consider using the cards for other purposes in the future. Long said his board would rather spend the money on staffing, but noted that the funds come as an extra grant from the library board, not from the library's regular budget.