Question about the public library's free computer setup in Springfield

I was at the main branch in Springfield yesterday to print a form, and I noticed something that really bugged me. All the public computers had those little plastic keyboard covers, which I get for hygiene, but they also had sticky notes right on the monitor frames with the login passwords written in plain view for anyone walking by. The librarian told me it was 'to help people who forget,' and that it was fine because the sessions reset after 30 minutes. I totally disagree. It teaches a terrible habit of writing down passwords in a shared space, and it only takes one person with bad intent to cause a problem during that half hour window. It's a public service, so I know they want to make things easy, but this feels like a basic security step they're missing. Has anyone else seen this at their local library and tried to talk to the staff about it?

3 comments

3 Comments

morgan_king361mo ago

amy_craig28 said "it's a huge privacy risk" and yeah, I'm living proof of that. Last month I walked into my library and saw my own password post-it note stuck to the side of the monitor because I'd left it there while printing a tax form. I literally facepalmed in front of a shelf of gardening books. These sticky notes are basically an open invitation for someone to mess with your email or worse. I get that staff wants to help people who forget, but maybe they could just keep a little laminated card at the desk instead of taping it right on the screen like a banner ad for bad security.

juliarodriguez1mo ago

Ugh, that's so frustrating! My library did the exact same thing for years. I finally pointed out how easy it would be for someone to mess with another person's saved files or email during a session. They just shrugged and said it was policy. It feels like such a simple fix to just have staff type it in for people who ask.

amy_craig281mo ago

Honestly @juliarodriguez, it's a huge privacy risk they just ignore. Our local branch finally changed that policy after a big fight last year.