Lisa Pampuch misses the point about library net porn in her
column last Tuesday. I am delighted to have an opportunity to
correct her.
Ms. Pampuch says the library’s policy of open access to all
materials (including Internet pornography) for all patrons
regardless of age is not relevant to whether we should vote no on
Measure F on the November ballot, because Measure F is just about
building a new library in Gilroy. On the contrary, the library
policy is perfectly relevant. The library staff can thumb its nose
with impunity at community standards and the public’s wishes
because it has a guaranteed revenue stream.
Lisa Pampuch misses the point about library net porn in her column last Tuesday. I am delighted to have an opportunity to correct her.
Ms. Pampuch says the library’s policy of open access to all materials (including Internet pornography) for all patrons regardless of age is not relevant to whether we should vote no on Measure F on the November ballot, because Measure F is just about building a new library in Gilroy. On the contrary, the library policy is perfectly relevant. The library staff can thumb its nose with impunity at community standards and the public’s wishes because it has a guaranteed revenue stream. The only time the public can make its voice heard is through the ballot.
Given that the bond requires 67 percent to pass, it seems strange that the librarians would cling to American Library Association policy against the wishes of a majority of the community. Perhaps they are counting on the public forgetting – it’s been several years since the filters were installed.
Ms. Pampuch, for example, has apparently forgotten that children are not required to use filtered terminals. Ms. Pampuch says that voting against the bond because of this one narrow issue ignores all the good libraries do for the community. She says that 70 million Americans lack access to any type of Internet. May I remind Ms. Pampuch that 99 percent of Americans own at least one television set? If people would rather have TV than www, it is their choice.
Ms. Pampuch inquires rhetorically why my cronies and I do not insist of filtering out graphic violence in the library. Graphic violence is not against the law. Obscenity is (Penal Code 311) and so is harmful matter for minors (PC 313.) My cronies and I want the library, a government institution, to abide by the law. Ms. Pampuch inquires why we are not so alarmed about DVDs and magazines. Good point!
At present, if the library has a copy of Playboy, it will be kept behind the desk, not for moral reasons, but to prevent its being stolen. If a 12-year-old child asks for that copy of Playboy or an R-rated DVD, the librarian will give it to him, because of the ALA’s policy of open access to all patrons, regardless of age.
Ms. Pampuch claims that we want to turn librarians into government paid nannies (a la nanny state). She and the librarians say that parents should monitor their children’s Internet use. In fact, Penal Code 313 prohibits any entity from distributing or exhibiting harmful matter to minors … with one exception. The child’s parent or guardian may provide harmful matter. Librarians may not.
Some library systems do restrict children to filtered terminals, or allow them access to unfiltered terminals only with parental supervision, or only with informed parental consent. Other libraries have policies prohibiting pornography in the library; others filter all terminals. Those would be common sense approaches, and we did suggest them to our library during the Battle of Library Net Porn, 10 years ago. The librarians refused.
The librarians are not really interested in having parents monitor what their children do in the library. Try finding out from a librarian what materials your child has checked out. Even if the materials are overdue and the clerk is asking you to pay your child’s fines, she will not tell you what your child has checked out on his card, because it would violate the privacy of the child.
It is absolutely insane that a government agency is doing what is illegal for any entity: allowing the distribution, exhibition, and display of pornography to minors. If a 7-Eleven convenience store were pulling a stunt like that, the police would shut them down. And if the police didn’t, a boycott would bring them to their senses right quick. But the county library system is not vulnerable to boycott. Their money keeps coming in regardless … unless we vote NO on Measure F.
The only control we have over the county library system is votes and taxes. Everybody loves libraries. I understand. I used to love the public library myself, until I went toe-to-toe with the ALA. They have very different standards: “All materials to all patrons, regardless of age.”
