Libraries vary in strategy on porn

Should community libraries do more to prevent patrons calling up pornographic websites on its computers?

Watertown's Town Council president is raising the question in the wake of an incident last month in Hingham, where a sex offender was arrested after printing out a photo of a nude girl at the town library, and an ongoing investigation in Milford, where a school principal's work computer was seized by investigators looking into child pornography allegations.

Clyde L. Younger, who plans to raise the matter at the March 13 council meeting, said Watertown should "take protective measures instead of waiting for something to happen.

"In a public area, everything should be handled differently," he said. "I know a lot of parents would appreciate" the library curtailing access to pornography.

Milford parents seek answers on FBI probe of principal. Page 3

While the Watertown Free Public Library doesn't limit what adults can view on its computers, its staff may eject a patron for being disruptive, said Lucia Mastrangelo, chairwoman of the Board of Library Trustees.

"If one person's use of the library somehow interferes with another person's use, they're asked to leave," said Mastrangelo. "If they refuse, we take other measures," she said, including calling police. "The policy has worked."

Officials at other libraries in the area said they do not use filtering software on computers used by adults. They do, however, employ a variety of strategies to protect the rights of patrons who don't want to be exposed to graphic images.

At Natick's Morse Institute Library, patrons must click "I agree" to the library's Internet use policy before going online. The policy states in part that sexually explicit text and images may not be displayed on library computers.

"There's no porn allowed," said Paula Polk, the library director. "If we see you, we ask you to leave. After the second time, people lose Internet privileges." Since last year, three men have lost library privileges for viewing or printing out pornography, Polk said.

Library staffers are "somewhat active" in keeping tabs on what patrons are doing at computers and take complaints from other patrons seriously, she said. "It's really a fine balance. We want people to have privacy and get" access to information they need, said Polk. "At the same time, we don't want porn at the public library."

The library adheres to the town's sexual harassment policy, which protects the right of library staffers not to be subjected to explicit material, Polk said.

"If it causes discomfort, then it's causing a 'hostile work environment' for the person sitting beside that person, or someone walking by, or a staff person," said Joan Craig, the library's community relations coordinator.

In Sudbury's Goodnow Library, computers for adults and children are on separate floors and stationed in "very public areas, near staff," said Bill Talentino, the library director. The library doesn't use filtering software because it provides a "false sense of security," he said.

"No matter what the strategy is for setting up the filters, they're never foolproof," said Talentino. "Unfortunately, that means sites that would be valuable, you wouldn't have access to."

He cited, for example, software that blocked sites on breast cancer because of the word "breast."

Filtering raises a familiar issue in the pornography debate: How do you define offensive?

"In some cases, what some might consider pornography may not be," said Talentino. "We have to be careful to protect the rights of individuals using the Internet too."

The Newton Free Library director, Kathy Glick-Weil, agrees that filtering software programs are ineffective. "You're . . . depending on people running this company to determine what's useful," she said.

"There's a strong tradition of intellectual freedom in Massachusetts, of people being able to decide for themselves," said Glick-Weil, who is president of the Massachusetts Library Association's board of directors. "That doesn't mean we condone illegal pornography on the Internet."

Unless someone is breaking the law by viewing child pornography, Newton staffers regulate computer use through the library's behavior policy.

"We don't let people use computers in a way that offends their neighbors," Glick-Weil said. "I think most libraries in this area do a good job making people feel unmolested by anyone else."

While not filtering adult computers, the Needham Free Public Library has installed the blocking software used in the schools on its computers used by children, said library director Ann MacFate.

In planning its recent renovation, the library deliberately placed its computer workstations in the open "so everyone can see what you're doing," MacFate said.

Patrons are free to bring in their own laptops, she said, but are barred from viewing pornography under a conduct code that applies in all town-owned buildings.

At the Marlborough Public Library, too, computers for children and teens are filtered, but not those used by adults, said Katherine Gurbanov, its head of circulation and technology. The library has outfitted monitors with screens on either side that provide privacy and prevent people from inadvertently glancing at each other's screens.

Shrewsbury Public Library does not filter its computers, but has a policy prohibiting patrons from looking at "obscene" materials, such as nudity.

"We don't have staff members looking over people's shoulders at the library," said director Ellen Dolan , but they won't turn a blind eye if they notice someone accessing pornography.

Beverly Shank, Watertown's assistant library director, sees the controversy as part of the larger debate over censorship and the First Amendment.

"These issues are not new with computers, and libraries have had to deal with this for hundreds of years," Shank said. "We really do believe we're one of the few institutions where access is available to anyone. The library is really the public's university regardless of age or income."

Christina Pazzanese can be reached by e-mail at cpazzanese@ globe.com.