We at the Obscene Rights blog are proud of the stance the Manchester library has taken to ensure the safety of other library patrons. It's always good to see librarians at a Public Library using common sense instead of only trying to portray themselves as maverick "information protectors". Also, double kudos to Manchester for being able to think clearly on this issue while maintaining a more liberal policy for Internet use at the library. (ie - No filters. No severe penalties. Porn is still not allowed.)
As this article on the situation states:
The city library has a fairly liberal policy on Internet use. It does not forbid viewing racy photos. It states merely that "Viewing and printing access is provided for educational and research purposes" and "The library reserves the right to ask users to refrain from displaying computer images which are inappropriate for public viewing."
The CPL could learn a lot from that Internet Use Policy. Anyone should be allowed to do research, but watching anything on a computer screen in the public library is very much public viewing.
There are some things that are simply inappropriate for public viewing. (For reasons why this is inappropriate in public, read the rest of this blog - particularly Top Ten Reasons to Remove Porn From our Public Libraries and Some Ridiculous Pro-porn-in-the-library Arguments.)
We at ObsceneRights are staunch supporters of free speech and firmly against censorship. Letting someone know that watching hardcore Internet pornography at the Public Library is inappropriate and unacceptable and even disallowing it is not censorship - it's similar to requesting patrons to not use cell phones in the library. Instead, by not being allowed to do anything about it - those of us who oppose it (and are not allowed to voice that opposition) are at risk of being censored.
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