If someone wants to look at internet pornography at a public library, they should have that right, says the executive director of the Ontario Public Library Association.
"Is that appropriate? No," said Shelagh Paterson. "But people should be able to access whatever they are looking for in the library."
The association does not set rules for public libraries in the province, but encourages them not to restrict access to information -- including on the internet.
"It's certainly an issue of concern for libraries," she said yesterday from Toronto.
She was responding to the concerns of Rob Nichol, a parent and owner of a cyber safety business who saw someone looking at porn near children at the Queen's Square library branch in Cambridge this week.
So first off, who goes to a library to look at porn? But whether you're a pervert or not, you should still have that right. Parents, and other squeamish types: if you're offended by porn, mind your own business and that of your children and don't gawk at people's monitors in the library. Its certainly not safe practice, but some people are in situations where they have to do things like bank online or similar sensitive matter wherever they can get a connection. If I were one of these people, I wouldn't want people staring at my screen, and its pretty reasonable to expect that kind of privacy. The same kind of thing should go for any browsing.
If you're gonna look around and snoop into other peoples business, then you deserve whatever eye-full of cheerleader girl-on-girl action you get. The library has done what should be expected of them in filtering the content in the children's area of the library. Outside of that, teach your child about respect of privacy, or keep them in the children's area. In my experience, the public access computers tend to be somewhat separated from the main book racks, so if you're that concerned, just keep your child away from the unfiltered computers.
All that said, again, who, aside from doing legitmate research (??), goes to the library to surf porn?