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Facilitating access to the Internet is an important part of the public library mission, and is crucial in ensuring that all citizens have the possibility of access to contemporary digital information and public services. Part of managing this access relies on the Acceptable Use Policy (AUP), an agreement between the library and the user regarding the conditions of access. This article reports on a national UK study of public library AUPs and the development of a new national model policy for public libraries, and which can be considered as 'best practice'. The article reports analysis of AUPs across the UK, with specific focus on how they communicate the use of filtering, and surveillance. This research adds new insight by studying the content of AUPs and contributes to the limited research that exists on public library AUPs in the UK. The research analyzed AUPs from 205 authorities in the UK, a return rate of 99.5%. The resulting conclusions and synthesis of relevant guidance on AUPs led to the formation of the model policy presented in this article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of the paper is to review UK government policy on public libraries since 2003, and to examine its relationship to other forms of demand for public libraries Design/methodology/approach - The published literature from government and professional bodies is reviewed, alongside published statistics on library use. Findings - Since 2003 public libraries have been the subject of sustained interest from UK government, in the form of a range of policy initiatives and incorporation in the Best Value and more recent Common Area Assessment monitoring frameworks. Alongside this, professional bodies and other commentators have put forward views on the role of libraries, but even taken together it is not clear that these represent the needs or aspirations of library service users. Originality/value - This paper provides an overview of the demand for UK public libraries, and its synthesis will be of value to librarians, government departments and professionals in this and related fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]