Community Corner

Library Board: No Filters on Public Computers in Adult Section

Patrons can still look at porn—or whatever they want—on the library's computers, as long as it's legal. The Orland Park Library board voted Wednesday to keep access open for adults using the library's public computers.

Adults at Orland Park Library will continue to have unrestricted access to the library's public computers, trustees voted Wednesday night. 

In the board's 5-2 vote, its newest member Trustee Elizabeth Gierach voted with the majority supporting unfiltered computer access in the library's adult section. The library will maintain its current policy of filtering web content only on computers used by children and young adults.

The issue has been hotly debated since last October 2013, when a Mokena woman told employees she saw a man at a nearby computer looking at a picture of an "LCD-colored, oiled breasted naked woman." The patron demanded that the library change their policy on acceptable use, saying that permitting the viewing of pornography in the library makes it unsafe for children. 

Then and now, the library board maintains that the policy in place honors First Amendment rights. Installing filters on computers for adult use would be restrictive and costly—ranging from $2,400 and $5,384 for the first year, Sun-Times Media reports. 

“Libraries are especially known for upholding First Amendment rights and allowing access to any legal type of information,” Orland Park Public Library spokeswoman Bridget Bittman told Patch in October. “There's a fine line between making sure people are accessing what they want and making sure patrons are not bothered by it.”

Patrons will have to be on their best behavior, to comply with a newly amended policy. Patrons cannot verbally or physically threaten others—that includes staring, lurking, offensive touching or engaging in or soliciting an obscene act, according to the report. Patrons shirking the policy would be subject to suspension, depending on number of offenses. Other recent changes involve requiring patrons 18 and older to display identification to use computers in the adult section.

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