Case Study: Crowell Public Library achieves hassle-free online child protection with ContentWatch

Providing a Hassle-Free Solution to Protecting Children Online

Crowell Public Library in San Marino serves a community of about 13,500 and 5,000–6,000 patrons each month, roughly half of whom are children and young adults. Facing ALA-driven obligations to provide unfettered adult access while protecting minors from adult and obscene content on 20 youth-designated public PCs, the library needed a low-cost, software-based, easy-to-install content filtering solution that supported real-time filtering, proxy/P2P/IM blocking, and easy reinstallation during nightly re-imaging. After evaluating options, Crowell Public Library selected ContentWatch’s Net Nanny and later migrated to ContentWatch’s web-based ContentProtect Professional.

ContentWatch implemented ContentProtect Professional to deliver dynamic, real-time web and chat filtering, Proxy Guard to block proxy circumvention, and easy web-based white/blacklist controls applied at the computer level. The solution integrated with existing AV, provided daily block-list updates, and let administrators instantly block a newly discovered chat site; staff report the system is “carefree” and only requires manual intervention once or twice a year. As a result, Crowell Public Library preserved adult access while reliably protecting minors online, reduced outside consulting hours, and improved parental and community confidence.

Crowell Public Library

Irene E. McDermott

Reference Librarian and Systems Manager