LAN Security While Using LT

I have received an offer of a donated computer for installation in the church library which would enable patrons to access the catalog from the church library. Currently patrons must access the catalog from their homes, as only the Reverend and secretary have computers and access to the internet at the church.

The systems people told me that they wouldn’t allow the installation because they felt that it would cause a security issue as it would be hooked up to the Local Area Network and this could potentially allow patrons to access church files.

I have since been told that there are some sort of settings that can be implemented on a LAN which could keep private files private.

Has anyone else experienced this situation and/or can offer some suggestions?

Thanks, Sue

Do you need to hook it into the LAN? Have you got a wifi you can use instead?

#2 - If it's the church's wifi, it would still on the church's LAN. If it's some other wifi, I wouldn't suggest that a church piggyback on it.

If it's a two-computer LAN, there's probably not much security settings available. File sharing could be turned off the two existing computers, perhaps.

Edit: changed would to wouldn't

Thanks for the ideas.