Make Online Smut Off Limits at Library

I was walking through the children’s reading section of the San Pedro branch of the Los Angeles Public Library and noticed three 8- to 10-year-olds whispering and giggling at one of the library’s computers. I looked at the screen to see what game they found so exciting and to my surprise, they were on an Internet chat line with some lewd chatters. I read a screen full of hard-core language describing various sexual acts in crude, graphic slang. The young library patrons watched the screen and excitedly discussed it.

I walked over to the children’s librarian and asked if she was aware they were on the chat line with smutty chatters. She said she knew and there was nothing she could do about it. It was the policy of the central library.

After visiting the library several more times, speaking to staff locally and downtown, calling politicians, computer companies, legal experts, a library commissioner and the head librarian at the Central Library this is what I found out: The use of computers for smutty chat talk is very common. Hard-core pornography menus are easily stumbled upon by typing in common children’s words on search prompts. Children also can access to Playboy magazine.

Who decides what will be offered in the library? Whoever runs your local library. The Los Angeles library is run by a Board of Library Commissioners appointed by the mayor and approved by the City Council.

According to Los Angeles City Librarian Susan Kent, the library policy set in 1995 states that the library does not support censoring of computer material in any way, and that it is the responsibility of parents to monitor their children’s use of the computers. That sounds very reasonable in theory. But there is nothing reasonable about the reality that children are at the library playing in smut on a regular basis. Children often come to the library without their parents.

In San Pedro, we have a community standard. Kids can’t look at or buy a Playboy magazine at the local corner market until they are 18. The local movie theater won’t let underage kids into an R-rated movie without the parents present. The video store won’t rent R-rated videos to minors without parents’ written permission.

Are these standards censorship? Some call it sponsorship. Let’s continue to sponsor the basic standard we already have by inviting the library to rejoin the community. The library does not have to offer unrestricted pornography and smut. Some libraries require parents to give written permission for children to use adult material. Some libraries don’t offer chat room access. Other libraries installed screening software. There is new software that, according to manufacturers’ claims, uses direct access blocking to URL (name) and IP (number) Web site addresses. For example, a search for “chicken breasts” would yield recipes but block views of Miss July’s breasts.

Computers are exciting. Let’s restore a little balance to this extreme situation. Go to your local library and see what’s happening. If you don’t like the situation, call your city council representatives and encourage them to change things.