FREEPORT (AP) – The Freeport Community Library has begun charging to use computers after tourists started treating it like an Internet cafe.

The library charges $2 for half-hour increments for patrons who don’t have library cards to help recoup costs for buying and maintaining computers.

Some librarians say the fee sets a troubling precedent. An informal survey by the library found that many Maine libraries charge for photocopies and library cards for nonresidents, but none of the 45 respondents charged for computer time.

Freeport Town Manager Dale Olmstead said the library continues to let town residents and nonresidents who buy a $45 library card use the computers free. Also, anyone with a laptop can use the library’s wireless connection free.

The fee has been in place about a month and has generated about $50 so far, said Beth Edmonds, director of the town library.

The tourists don’t seem to mind it, she said.

Nonetheless, some feel libraries should go the extra mile to keep services free.

“I believe that Internet access, just like all of the materials at the public library, is just another library material,” said Nikki Maounis, president of the Maine Library Association Executive Committee. “We have to do the very best we can to provide those services as free as we can make them.”

Olmstead said town residents already support the library through taxes. The new fee, he said, is simply a way for the town to “ask people who don’t live in Freeport to help us pay for and repair some very expensive computer equipment.”

Most Maine libraries are not allowed to charge for computer use because they belong to the Maine School and Library Network, a consortium of schools and libraries providing Internet access and electronic resources, said Janet McKenney, coordinator of learning and technical services for the Maine State Librar

Libraries belonging to the network, which is funded with state and federal money, must offer free computer access to the public, McKenney said.

Freeport is not bound by that rule because it is not part of the network. It gets its Internet access through its local cable company, Edmonds said.