'Inappropriate' Web site viewing raising concern
By Dolly A. Butz Journal staff writer | Posted: Sunday, November 12, 2006
A bank of computers is shown on the second floor of the Wilbur Aalfs Main Library in downtown Sioux City. Although the library's Internet policy prohibits any activity in violation of Iowa's obscenity law, there is no Internet filtering software in place to block users from accessing pornographic Web sites.
Apply for a job. Send an e-mail. Conduct research. Play a game. Access a pornographic Web site.
The ability to do the latter while surfing the Web on a Sioux City Public Library computer recently caused some citizens and City Council members to question the enforcement of the library's Internet policy.
Although the library's Internet policy prohibits any activity in violation of Iowa's obscenity law, there is no Internet filtering software in place to block users from accessing pornographic Web sites.
The lack of Internet filtering software on library computers was brought to Sioux City Councilman Jason Geary's attention by a concerned citizen.
Geary voiced the issue last month at a joint meeting between the Sioux City Council and the Library Board of Trustees. After discussing the matter with administrative staff, Geary said the issue isn't the library's Internet policy, but how that policy is being enforced.
"From my perspective the debate is not so much about censorship on the computers because the library board and myself agree that the policy is fine," he said. "It's already there. It's been there for a long time. The question is enforcement. That's the part where there is some disagreement, how do you enforce that policy?"
Logging on
Since 1995 the Sioux City Public Library has offered equal access to ideas and information via the Internet. The Wilbur Aalfs Main Public Library provides 10 computers with full Internet access, six "special purpose" computers with limited access and two "managed access" computers in the children's area. In order to sign on to a computer, a user must agree to follow the library's Internet policy, which is posted on the computer screen. Once they are logged in, users are only allowed to use the computers for 45-minute increments. After 45 minutes of computer use, they are required to wait 30 minutes before resuming use.
The people logging on to library computers and the information they access varies, Sioux City Public Library director Betsy Thompson said.
"It's a real mix," she said. "Students, job seekers, genealogy researchers -- there's some research use and some recreational use."
Thompson said librarians do "occasionally" catch a user viewing inappropriate material. Thompson said two librarians are on the floor at all times monitoring activities in the area.
"Their job is to help people," she said. "If they see an inappropriate image on the screen they will remind people of the policy."
If the individual continues to violate the policy after being warned previously, Thompson said they will be asked to leave and will be banned from the library for 30 days. If they come back after 30 days and continue the same behavior, she said a supervisor will ask them to leave and suspend them from the library for a year.
"Essentially we expect people to self-monitor," she said. "That's how we do everything. We loan people hundreds of dollars worth of books or recordings and we expect them to bring them back."
Filtering
Under the Children's Internet Protection Act, a federal law enacted by Congress in 2000, libraries and schools are required to have an Internet safety policy and a technology protection measure in place to block Internet content that is obscene or harmful to minors, if they wish to received federal funding. The Sioux City Public Library does not accept federal funding.
Although there have been several attempts to declare the law unconstitutional, the Supreme Court upheld the law when it was challenged in 2003.
A bill introduced in the Iowa Senate in January called for the state's libraries to adopt a similar policy in order to receive state funds. The bill died in committee when lawmakers failed to meet legislative deadlines.
Nearly 14 percent of Iowa's 543 public libraries use filters on every library computer, according to a 2004 Information Use Management and Policy Institute survey. Fifty-two percent of U.S. libraries do not use filters on computers.
The addition of filters to library computers in Sioux Falls, Cynthia Winn, assistant director for Siouxland Libraries, said has "just made life easier."
Winn said filtering was enacted to comply with a citywide policy against sexual harassment.
"Some libraries have had problems where they had no restrictions at all," she said. "For us, when the city has that policy, we're doing it not only for our staff, but for other customers as well so that they're not exposed to something that's going to create a hostile environment."
Winn said computers in the children's section of the library are filtered and computers used by adults also contain limited filtering to deal with "really sexually explicit content." The library also has restrictions that anyone under 13 is required to use the children's computers and library cards are age ranked so that adults cannot reserve a children's computer.
"We have very little of it now that we block for the explicit (content) because they get a warning," Winn said. "It stops them. We had some problem before, but now with some filtering on there we have very little problem."
However, Winn said filtering software isn't foolproof.
"Filters have their limitations," she said. "Sites are being created daily. People are trying to circumvent the software."
Besides blocking explicit Web sites, filtering software may also block legitimate Web sites that could be used for research purposes. This is one reason Dorothy Kelley, assistant director for the Des Moines Public Libraries, said her libraries have not adopted it.
"We do believe in intellectual freedom," she said. "We don't police it because we don't have enough staff to do that, but in passing, if we see that or if it's reported to us that's when we address it."
Instead of filtering software, Kelley said they have an automated system in place that remotely terminates an Internet session if a staff member discovers a user is accessing inappropriate Web sites.
"We flash a message to them that they're accessing inappropriate sites," she said. "That seems to work really well because there's no personal confrontation. It happens from our reference desk and they don't know who sent the message."
Finding solutions
Geary said he has asked the Sioux City Public Library to find a software-based solution to help enforce its Internet policy because he said he doesn't believe that librarians monitoring the computers is enough to enforce the policy or hold offenders accountable.
"Let's try to find a software-based solution that finds a way to mitigate those problems," he said. "Software is so advanced now that I'm confident we can try to find something that will ensure that those kinds of events are few and far between. If someone literally wants to get on there for research and the computer's blocking out the site and it's a legitimate site they should be given access to it."
Although Councilman Jim Rixner said he is "very concerned" about restricting adult Internet access and said "hard-core pornography has no place in the library," he said he isn't "at all sure" filtering is the solution if in fact there is a problem at the library.
"I think the issue is one of a concern that people have expressed about the potential for the abuse rather than the abuse actually existing," he said. "Until we know more about what is going on at the library then we can look at possible solutions, if in fact we need to have a solution. I think that that needs to be approached with a deep breath and we need to look at what other libraries do and how this is handled throughout the country rather than just jumping to conclusions."
Thompson said they are currently looking at a software product to improve the time management and print management of the library's Internet stations. The software also contains a content management feature.
If the library decided to adopt the software, Thompson said the additional time needed for staff to work with the product will have a greater impact on the library's budget than the upfront cost of the software.
"It's the staff time to install, update, troubleshoot -- it's just one more technical thing you have to have someone take care of," she said.
Whether changes are implemented at the library, Thompson said the discussion is happening in the right place.
"I think the community of Sioux City having this conversation is absolutely the right place to have it," she said.
Dolly Butz may be contacted at (712) 293-4275 or dollybutz@siouxcityjournal.com
The ability to do the latter while surfing the Web on a Sioux City Public Library computer recently caused some citizens and City Council members to question the enforcement of the library's Internet policy.
Although the library's Internet policy prohibits any activity in violation of Iowa's obscenity law, there is no Internet filtering software in place to block users from accessing pornographic Web sites.
The lack of Internet filtering software on library computers was brought to Sioux City Councilman Jason Geary's attention by a concerned citizen.
Geary voiced the issue last month at a joint meeting between the Sioux City Council and the Library Board of Trustees. After discussing the matter with administrative staff, Geary said the issue isn't the library's Internet policy, but how that policy is being enforced.
"From my perspective the debate is not so much about censorship on the computers because the library board and myself agree that the policy is fine," he said. "It's already there. It's been there for a long time. The question is enforcement. That's the part where there is some disagreement, how do you enforce that policy?"
Logging on
Since 1995 the Sioux City Public Library has offered equal access to ideas and information via the Internet. The Wilbur Aalfs Main Public Library provides 10 computers with full Internet access, six "special purpose" computers with limited access and two "managed access" computers in the children's area. In order to sign on to a computer, a user must agree to follow the library's Internet policy, which is posted on the computer screen. Once they are logged in, users are only allowed to use the computers for 45-minute increments. After 45 minutes of computer use, they are required to wait 30 minutes before resuming use.
The people logging on to library computers and the information they access varies, Sioux City Public Library director Betsy Thompson said.
"It's a real mix," she said. "Students, job seekers, genealogy researchers -- there's some research use and some recreational use."
Thompson said librarians do "occasionally" catch a user viewing inappropriate material. Thompson said two librarians are on the floor at all times monitoring activities in the area.
"Their job is to help people," she said. "If they see an inappropriate image on the screen they will remind people of the policy."
If the individual continues to violate the policy after being warned previously, Thompson said they will be asked to leave and will be banned from the library for 30 days. If they come back after 30 days and continue the same behavior, she said a supervisor will ask them to leave and suspend them from the library for a year.
"Essentially we expect people to self-monitor," she said. "That's how we do everything. We loan people hundreds of dollars worth of books or recordings and we expect them to bring them back."
Filtering
Under the Children's Internet Protection Act, a federal law enacted by Congress in 2000, libraries and schools are required to have an Internet safety policy and a technology protection measure in place to block Internet content that is obscene or harmful to minors, if they wish to received federal funding. The Sioux City Public Library does not accept federal funding.
Although there have been several attempts to declare the law unconstitutional, the Supreme Court upheld the law when it was challenged in 2003.
A bill introduced in the Iowa Senate in January called for the state's libraries to adopt a similar policy in order to receive state funds. The bill died in committee when lawmakers failed to meet legislative deadlines.
Nearly 14 percent of Iowa's 543 public libraries use filters on every library computer, according to a 2004 Information Use Management and Policy Institute survey. Fifty-two percent of U.S. libraries do not use filters on computers.
The addition of filters to library computers in Sioux Falls, Cynthia Winn, assistant director for Siouxland Libraries, said has "just made life easier."
Winn said filtering was enacted to comply with a citywide policy against sexual harassment.
"Some libraries have had problems where they had no restrictions at all," she said. "For us, when the city has that policy, we're doing it not only for our staff, but for other customers as well so that they're not exposed to something that's going to create a hostile environment."
Winn said computers in the children's section of the library are filtered and computers used by adults also contain limited filtering to deal with "really sexually explicit content." The library also has restrictions that anyone under 13 is required to use the children's computers and library cards are age ranked so that adults cannot reserve a children's computer.
"We have very little of it now that we block for the explicit (content) because they get a warning," Winn said. "It stops them. We had some problem before, but now with some filtering on there we have very little problem."
However, Winn said filtering software isn't foolproof.
"Filters have their limitations," she said. "Sites are being created daily. People are trying to circumvent the software."
Besides blocking explicit Web sites, filtering software may also block legitimate Web sites that could be used for research purposes. This is one reason Dorothy Kelley, assistant director for the Des Moines Public Libraries, said her libraries have not adopted it.
"We do believe in intellectual freedom," she said. "We don't police it because we don't have enough staff to do that, but in passing, if we see that or if it's reported to us that's when we address it."
Instead of filtering software, Kelley said they have an automated system in place that remotely terminates an Internet session if a staff member discovers a user is accessing inappropriate Web sites.
"We flash a message to them that they're accessing inappropriate sites," she said. "That seems to work really well because there's no personal confrontation. It happens from our reference desk and they don't know who sent the message."
Finding solutions
Geary said he has asked the Sioux City Public Library to find a software-based solution to help enforce its Internet policy because he said he doesn't believe that librarians monitoring the computers is enough to enforce the policy or hold offenders accountable.
"Let's try to find a software-based solution that finds a way to mitigate those problems," he said. "Software is so advanced now that I'm confident we can try to find something that will ensure that those kinds of events are few and far between. If someone literally wants to get on there for research and the computer's blocking out the site and it's a legitimate site they should be given access to it."
Although Councilman Jim Rixner said he is "very concerned" about restricting adult Internet access and said "hard-core pornography has no place in the library," he said he isn't "at all sure" filtering is the solution if in fact there is a problem at the library.
"I think the issue is one of a concern that people have expressed about the potential for the abuse rather than the abuse actually existing," he said. "Until we know more about what is going on at the library then we can look at possible solutions, if in fact we need to have a solution. I think that that needs to be approached with a deep breath and we need to look at what other libraries do and how this is handled throughout the country rather than just jumping to conclusions."
Thompson said they are currently looking at a software product to improve the time management and print management of the library's Internet stations. The software also contains a content management feature.
If the library decided to adopt the software, Thompson said the additional time needed for staff to work with the product will have a greater impact on the library's budget than the upfront cost of the software.
"It's the staff time to install, update, troubleshoot -- it's just one more technical thing you have to have someone take care of," she said.
Whether changes are implemented at the library, Thompson said the discussion is happening in the right place.
"I think the community of Sioux City having this conversation is absolutely the right place to have it," she said.
Dolly Butz may be contacted at (712) 293-4275 or dollybutz@siouxcityjournal.com
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