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| Oak Park Public Library Logo |
Porn in the Oak Park Library!
Shocking, but true. And, in the kids' section, no less.
My wife and two little girls frequent the Oak Park Library, at least once or twice a week. They spend most of their time on the first floor kids' section. They color, read books and play with the computers.
Well, yesterday, they were there as usual and a young boy of around 11 or 12 years old wandered in, sat at a computer and proceeded to pull up hard core porn websites. All in full view of the parents, librarians and worse, the children. Not only were all the parents present horrified that a child would do this but exponentially worse is that they were informed by the librarian that our library network does not have filters to prevent something like this from happening. The librarian proceeded to tell the boy that he couldn't be in the kids' section and had to move up to the adult area of the library - not that he wasn't allowed to view that material on public machines.
Paul Marobella, Oak Park, IL
The only imaginable argument I could imagine from anyone why a public, tax-supported network would not be filtered is for freedom of speech/access. I don't buy it. The internet is a dark and dingy place and our children should not be exposed to this in our public library. It is one thing to have no filters on the adult section of the library (adult as in not child-section not as in adult/porn) but not having them in the kids' section is a travesty and one that we as parents should rally to have changed.
Does anyone have any advice on how we can take this further? Whom should we ping to ensure the youth of our children is preserved as long as possible? LHOP is our first stop to help rally a groundswell. I'm not much of an activist, but I have to draw the line somewhere.
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| ALA Midwinter Meeting 2011 Logo |
I hope ALA members are enjoying themselves while the families back home are frantic that their children are being sexualized as a result of ALA policy made local library policy. That's right, the library adheres to ALA policy that anything goes.
"The Internet is a global electronic network that maintains no regulatory control of its users or content. The Oak Park Public Library has no control over the content of these resources." That's because the library refuses, thanks to the ALA, not because it is unable.
As with all materials in the Library, restriction of a child's access to the Internet is the responsibility of the parent or guardian; the Library does not act in place of the parent. Parents and guardians assume full and complete responsibility for their child/children's use of the Internet through the Library's connection.
Obviously they mean what they say, and another activist is born. Will someone please ask Paul Marobella to contact me?
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What does the fact that the ALA is holding their meeting in San Diego have to do with anything?
ReplyDeleteI think the aggressive nature of this post twists the nature of my post on our local community. For the record, I did not state that porn is "allowed" in the OP Library, it is not - in fact, the point of my post was to point out that we were surprised that there aren't filters on the computers in the library. My position was clearly that I wish it wasn't the case. I am not an activist nor do I choose to be. Our library does a great job and obviously the issue of censorship goes far beyond the library.
ReplyDeleteTake a good long look, Mr. Kleinman. This is what a rational concerned parent looks like. See how he begins a constructive dialogue with other parents, library users, and staff? See how there are no ALA conspiracy theories or baseless legal threats? Kudos to you, Mr. Marobella!
ReplyDeleteThanks, everyone, for writing.
ReplyDeleteMarobella, yours was an interesting comment. Please tell me what is "aggressive" about reporting an incident where someone wrote, "a young boy of around 11 or 12 years old … proceeded to pull up hard core porn websites. All in full view of the parents, librarians and worse, the children. Not only were all the parents present horrified that a child would do this but exponentially worse is that they were informed by the librarian that our library network does not have filters to prevent something like this from happening. The librarian proceeded to tell the boy that he couldn't be in the kids' section and had to move up to the adult area of the library - not that he wasn't allowed to view that material on public machines"? What is "aggressive" about hyperlinking to the library's own policy evidencing that it adheres to ALA policy and specifies that it has no control over the Internet and only parents may restrict what a child views on the Internet? What is "aggressive" or what did I "twist" when I said another activist is born after you said, "I'm not much of an activist, but I have to draw the line somewhere."
I did not say that you stated porn is allowed in the library in so many words, but you did state, "The librarian proceeded to tell the boy that he couldn't be in the kids' section and had to move up to the adult area of the library - not that he wasn't allowed to view that material on public machines." Any reasonable reading of that shows porn is allowed as it was in that incident, at least according to how you reported the incident—do you wish to retract anything? Further, library policy implicitly requires the very actions the librarian took in directing the child to the adult section to continue his porn viewing.
Regarding "the issue of censorship," I apologize for not linking US v. ALA, but had we talked, I would have mentioned that straight away. Censorship claims are mere dogma now, post US v. ALA. Please read the case completely. Also, read, "Library Porn Removal Roadmap; NCRL Director Dean Marney Details How to Legally Remove Legal Porn from Public Library Computers and Advises that the ALA Relies on Outdated Dogma."
Be that as it may, I can see you do not want any assistance from me. That's fine. There may be others in your community who may, on the other hand, seek to wrest control of the public library from the ALA and restore it to the local community. I'll bet you the vast majority of citizens do not think it is appropriate for policy to implicitly require a librarian to suggest a child viewing porn in the child section should simply be moved to the adult section to continue his porn viewing. So if people have open minds, they may wish to contact me.
Remember the tagline, Marobella, that you offered to the Village: "Oak Park: 'An Open Mind Is Mandatory.'" I wholeheartedly agree.
Now, as to Some Punk Kid, I made no "ALA conspiracy theories or baseless legal threats." The library chooses to follow ALA policy, but I never said or implied anything about an ALA conspiracy to force the library to do so. Further, I made no legal claims whatsoever. Assuming good faith that your own comments are not themselves baseless, please provide support for your claims.
Thanks again, everyone.