In a story that will undoubtedly grab one of our colleague’s attentions, the city of Los Angeles is talking about porn. And its not just any type, it’s the type viewed in libraries; as in public libraries. People are looking at porn in public libraries in Los Angeles. What is their response?? None other than privacy screens.
The discussion had was aimed at balancing a patron’s First Amendment right to look at explicit material with other patrons’ rights to shield themselves from porn in public. This stemmed from January 6 incident when a librarian was notified that a man was viewing explicit material on a computer in a Chinatown library.
“The community was very upset. This is not the type of thing that generally happens in the Chinatown branch,” said Cheryl Collins, interim director for branch libraries.
At the Chinatown branch, the computers were moved to a more private area and outfitted with privacy screens, something that is also done at the other 71 branches and Central Library in downtown.
City Councilman Ed Reyes said, “[i]f we could maintain the level of privacy without compromising security, I think we’ll find a win-win where no one can sue the city for violating their First Amendment rights. . . . At the same time, we have to be cognizant that there are certain characters that don’t have the best judgment in their behavior around children, around families in our libraries.”
Their porn privileges are unlimited however. Patrons may not view child porn, which is obviously illegal, or engage with other patrons while viewing pornographic material. I doubt this topic is on the agenda with the proposed Grand Forks library.
I don't think it's on Fargo's agenda either! Haha. I like the solution they came up with, but I have to wonder, isn't there some sort of decency law that could stop people from viewing porn at the library? It's not like they couldn't view the porn at all, it's just that they can't see it in the library. I'm just thinking this concept through, but if a person wanted to have sex in their car parked on the street, would it be okay as long as the windows were tinted really dark? Or how about if they covered the windows with a white sheet? Also, don't you think some porn store in LA has those rooms were you can be alone and watch porn? There is a time and place for everything and the library should not be a place to view porn.
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