Final Thoughts....Politics Makes Strange Bedfellows

I am actually sad that this project is coming to an end. In the beginning, I was very resistant to trying this blog thing. I had never even seen a blog, posted on a blog or let alone created a blog before. But, I am thrilled with the experience. Thanks to all who have visited the blog and posted comments. I appreciated every ones input. So, for my final posting, I thought I would keep it close to home.

In 2005, a local library in Tampa put up a display of books in support of gay pride. The display received some complaints and was eventually removed. In response, Hillsborough County passed an ordinance prohibiting county employees from "acknowledging, promoting, and participating in gay pride recognition and events." (Minow, 2006).

Then, Joe Redner got involved. He filled a lawsuit stating that as a homosexual his rights had been violated. He went on to say that he would have liked to have visited the display. Redner, as the owner a many strip clubs, is often controversial; yet his claim of being gay took it to a new level (Liberto, 2005). Now I have to admit, I never thought I would "get into bed" with Redner, either literally or figuratively, but in this case I am!

I don't know whether Redner is gay or not, but it was a genius legal move. I was offended by the county's reaction and am glad someone was taking them to task. If we eliminate everything that could potentially upset someone, there would literally be nothing left.

I don't know if anyone will have time to comment on this posting, but I would love to know what others have to say. In the meantime, Goodnight Gracie and to all a goodnight too!

Liberto, J. (2005, December 17). His gay claim likely to hold up. St. Petersburg Times [On-line Edition]. Retrieved on April 14, 2008 from http://www.sptimes.com/2005/12/17/Hillsborough/His_gay_claim_likely_.shtml
Minow, M. (2006, July 26). Gay dispute in Florida library. Law Library Blog. Retrieved on April 14, 2008, from http://blog.librarylaw.com/librarylaw/2006/07/gay_display_in_.html

Library Lawsuits

We live in a litigious society and libraries are not exempt from these lawsuits. I have complied a group of interesting lawsuits regarding library issues. Have you had to deal with any of these legal issues?

Bradburn et al v. North Central Regional Library District
On November 16, 2006 a group of library patrons sued over the use of filters on library Internet computers (Burt, 2008). A trial date has been set for April 15, 2008. Many libraries have added filter software to their computers to comply with the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA). This software can limit search activities and sometimes excludes many legitimate sites. How do you feel about computer software filters?

John and Jane Does v. Thacker et al
On September 28, 2007, a pro se suit was filed in Hillsborough County, Florida regarding the time limit for Internet use. The plaintiffs claimed the time limit was too short. Due to the high demand for computers, many libraries limit the amount of time each patron utilizes a computer. This case was filed on the basis of a violation of civil rights but was dismissed without prejudice on March 25, 2008 (Justia, 2008). Do you think it is fair to limit computer time?

Faith Center Church Evenglist Ministries et al v. Glover et al
On July 30, 2004, the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) filed a lawsuit on behalf of a Christian group that was not allowed to rent a room at the public library to hold services (ADF, 2004). Many libraries have separate meeting rooms. Do you think religious organizations should be allowed to use public space?

ADF. (2004, July 30). Library policy: No religious person allowed, [Press Release]. Retrieved on April 13, 2008, from http://www.alliancedefensefund.org/news/story.aspx?cid=2772
Burt, D. (2008). Bradburn. Retrieved on April 13, 2008 from http://filteringfacts.org/legal/bradburn/

Justia. (2008). John and Jan Does v. Thacker et a. Retrieved on April 13, 2008 from http://news.justia.com/cases/featured/florida/flmdce/8:2007cv01778/205669/

Home Sweet Library

People from all walks of life visit libraries everyday. One segment of patrons is often overlooked: the homeless. Currently, public libraries are a preferred destination for many homeless individuals. Most shelters close during the day and require their visitors to leave. Libraries are free, climate controlled and offer many activities including: books, magazines and computers. Unfortunately, many patrons are offended by the lack of personal hygiene and other issues presented by the homeless. In New Jersey, a homeless person successfully sued his local library after he was banned for offensive body odor (Staff, 2007). As a library patron, I have been concerned about some homeless patrons. I actually prefer to not visit the downtown library because of this problem. I think the problem is larger than the library. It is really a social problem. Many homeless people have no other options, and unfortunately with our receding economy and increase in home foreclosures the problem is only going to get worse. But, what can we do as librarians? Will the homeless be libraryless soon too? What do think?


Staff. (2007, April 9). SLC library's ward reflects on public libraries and the homeless. Library Journel. Retrieved on April 10, 2008 from http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6431709.html

The New Gentleman's Club

Last night, I went to the Performing Arts center in Tampa and saw Avenue Q. It was a hilarious play with some risque content. One of the acts is titled: "The Internet is for Porn." It was a scene between a kindergarten teacher talking about a lesson on the Internet and her pervert neighbor. She was extolling all the traditional benefits about the Internet and he kept interjecting "porn." Although, there may be many kindergarten teachers utilizing our library computers for lesson planning, a growing number of patrons seem to be utilizing them to access pornography. Recently, the Dallas Morning News found library patrons accessing pornography on library computers. "During a 45 minute period...users accessed more than 5,200 web pages containing identifiably pornographic material." (Levinthal, 2008) Unfortunately, I don't think Dallas is alone.
In December, 2000 Congress passed the Children's Internet Protect Act (CIPA). This law was intended to help protect children from accessing questionable or offensive material on school and library computers. This only applies while the child is accessing the computer. Adults are able to disable the filtering software and view sites that are off-limits to children. But, as most of you are aware, library computers are not tucked away in private areas and for the most part, the screens are viewable by other patrons. The Hillsborough County Public Library (2004) has the following policy: "2.2 Any library computer may not be used for any illegal activity including but not limited to...Displaying, printing, sending or storing any material that is obscene..." Is online pornography considered illegal or just immoral? What is a librarian to do? What would you do if one of your patrons was viewing pornography?

Hillsborough County Public Library. (2004, November). At your library...Internet access policy
[Brochure]. Retrieved on April 5, 2008, from
http://www.thpl.org/hcplc/ig/userguides/ayl/internetaccess.pdf.
Leventhal, D. (2008, January 15). On Dallas library computers, porn is a regular site. Dallas Morning News. Retrieved on April 5, 2008, from
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/DN-libraryporn_15met.ART.State.Edition2.378295d.html

Latchkey Library

A librarian's role has dramatically changed over the years. Today, it seems to include a new role: babysitter. Many parents are dropping their children off at the local library and leaving them unsupervised while they run errands or even go to the movies. Apparently, this is not only a US phenomena. Recently, an Australian mom left her six year old son unattended at the library. Unfortunately, she did not bother to see if the library was open when dropping him off. According to the New Zealand Herald, the library was closed and the young boy was left unattended for two hours (Staff, 2008). The mother reported leaving the boy on a regular basis at the library.
These unattended children present many potential legal issues for librarians. A library has a legal obligation to insure the safety of all patrons (New Jersey Library Association (NJLA), 2008). So, it is important for all libraries to develop a policy regarding unattended minors. Many states have laws regarding abandonment or neglect while a child is left alone at home, but these do no apply if the child is in a public setting. The Pinellas Public Library Cooperative (PPLC) has the following policy: "The following activities are NOT allowed in the library:...8. Leaving a child under the age of 7 without an adult." (PPLC, 2008). I was surprised to see the age so young. I would never have left my child alone anywhere until she was a least 13. What do you think?


NJLA. (2008). Exposure to litigation. New Jersey Library Association. Retrieved March 30, 2008, from http://www.njla.org/statements/children_libraries.html
PPLC. (2008). Patron code of conduct. Library Policies. Retrieved March 30, 2008, from http://www.tblc.org/tarpon/libpolicies.html
Staff. (2008, March 20). Mother fined for leaving son at library. New Zealand Herald. Retrieved March 30, 2008 from http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10499384

Forever is a very long time.

Another poll has closed and quite frankly, I was surprised at the results. The poll asked:"How long should a library maintain patron records?" The majority chose - FOREVER. I was surprised for many reasons. First, I wondered if it was really necessary. As long as a patron has returned the material, why would we need this information. Do we need to know that patron A checked out only Clifford books or that patron B checked out Janet Evanovich and Tom Clancy books? Maybe in the short-term this information could be helpful for collection development and book trends, but in the long run, what would it matter? In light of the Patriot act and more judicial action regarding patron records, are we doing our patrons a disservice by saving this information? Many students go to the library and research a variety of topics. Some may be reflective of their current beliefs, others may not. Some, taken out-of-context, could have negative consequences for a patron. Imagine if everyone had access to the library records of any one of our current political candidates: Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama or John McCain. It is easy to imagine how a reporter could take one book off this list and create a controversial story about the candidate. Many librarians and advocacy agencies suggest retaining patron information only as long a necessary (Nolan, 1993). I would agree with this, but what do you think?

Nolan, C. (1993). The confidentiality of interlibrary loan records. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 19, 81-86.

Feared Books?

Since 1982, banned book week has been observed by libraries and schools alike (ALA, 2007). I find the concept of banned or challenging books fascinating. About ten years ago, I sat on a library committee at my daughter's elementary school. At least once a month, a parent would challenge a book in our school library. For the most part, the challenges seemed to represent the parents' fear of something. There are two challenges that stand out in my mind: Freaky Friday, by Mary Rodgers and the Amber Brown Series, by Paula Danzinger. For those of you not familiar with the books, Freaky Friday was written in the early 70's and is about a girl and her mother who switch places. The Amber Brown Series was written in the late 90's. The main character is an elementary school girl whose parent's recently divorced. Both books were written for elementary school children. I am sure many of you are wondering what is challenging about either of these books? I felt the same way when I saw them on our agenda. Freaky Friday was challenged because the parent felt the teenage girl in the book was disrespectful to her mother. She told us that she works hard to instill discipline and order in her home and she feared that a book like this could negatively influence an impressionable child. She was very passionate with her plea that we remove this book from the library. In the end, the book remained in our library. The Amber Brown Series was challenged because of the divorce theme. The parent stated that she did not believe in divorce and did not want her daughter exposed to such topics. Again, this challenge was denied and the series stayed in our library. As you can see, both mothers were afraid for their children. One was afraid that their child could be negatively influenced and the other was afraid her daughter would learn about the concept of divorce. I believe we should rename the concept to "Feared Books." What do you think?

For more information about banned book week visit http://www.ala.org/.

American Library Association (ALA). (2007). Why books banned week? Background. Retrieved on March 6, 2008 from http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbooksweek/backgroundb/background.htm