There was a man who confessed he had become a habitual consumer of Internet pornography in his early teens. With self-disgust and embarrassment, he spoke of his machinations to avoid detection by others, and how he would quickly conceal his activities when others wandered within eyesight of his computer monitor. Even by young adulthood he had not entirely kicked the vice.

This is a sadly common story in our time, but his account has a twist: His first Internet connection was supported by taxpayer money.

You see, the young man habituated himself to this vice courtesy of the computers at the public library.

This unsettling story came to mind when I discovered an internal staff newsletter for my county's public library system, which included an uneasy plea from a librarian about patrons viewing pornographic material on the public computers. She reported increasing complaints about such behavior and expressed her discomfort about being around sexually aroused men. She asked, with good reason:

Why must staff and patrons (some young adults and preteens) be forced to accept in their midst sexually aroused individuals who come to the library specifically to attain that level of arousal via Internet porn? This behavior is not socially acceptable in any other public venue.

The poor librarian concluded: "This is not a question of censorship but one of patron and staff safety."

Her superior's response is an exemplar of consistency taken to an absurdity. The administrator, also a woman, reiterated library policy requiring "privacy screens" in the event of complaints. These screens conceal the monitor's display to everyone but the user sitting directly in front.

The administrator urged the librarian to take a professional attitude toward disturbing patrons, quoting library policy word for word: "Because the library offers such a broad window on the world of ideas, it is almost inevitable that some of these ideas will be shocking, offensive, or disagreeable to both library staff and patrons." The precise ideas at issue are unclear.

While acknowledging that library rules forbid overt sexual conduct from patrons, the administrator insisted sexual arousal does not violate regulations: "We offer lots of materials that patrons might use to arouse themselves; they range from romance novels to photographic works," she writes. Even in context, this reads more like a recommendation than anything else.

There is an unfortunate consistency to her reasoning. For those grown accustomed to soft-core romance novels and the nude simulations in R-rated movies, it is difficult to object to its more forceful variety. We reckon obscenity to be the normal background noise of our lives. Good citizens of the pornoculture, we raise an eyebrow but not an objection. So when we discover some vacant-eyed lecher propped before a library computer screen, perhaps we're looking at the result of all the small compromises we ourselves have made.

Of course, there are more proximate causes as for why the library is transforming into a shame-free adult video arcade. The American Library Association (ALA) has a particularly strong influence over libraries around the country and, like many academic institutions, is generally obeisant to free-speech absolutism in obscenity cases. Its corporate connections are not reassuring: Christie Hefner, daughter of Playboy's Hugh Hefner, once addressed the ALA convention on the First Amendment, while an ALA group's newsletter informs us that the Hugh Hefner First Amendment Award was given to a group that protested Internet filters on library computers.

The ALA, to its credit, is not blind to the problem. Among its resources is a skit about a mother who has dropped her young daughter off at the library. Her friends warn her that the library is not safe for her child and repeat some breathless charges about the pornography-friendly policies of the ALA. They rush to the library and, sure enough, her seven-year-old is delving into carnal knowledge. The library director is confronted, and the flustered mother asks why the library should be a red-light district. He speaks about the costs of living in a free society and exhorts parents to take responsibility for their children. "Our librarians guide people to information, but they're not babysitters," he says.

One wonders: Will the ALA ever compose a skit about how to deal with a lusty creep, or how to attract again the patrons his creepiness has driven away?

For that matter, will it issue instructions informing a librarian how she can file a sexual harassment lawsuit against her employer? Few today expect a professional woman to tolerate a working environment tarnished by open pornography use -- outside the library, of course.

Kevin J. Jones writes from Arvada, Colorado, and blogs at Philokalia Republic. This article originally appeared November 17, 2007.

Readers have left 7 comments.

   Quote(1) what a world.. ..what a world
November 07th, 2009 | 2:43pm

How far and fast most institutions have declined.It's quite incredible. As a child, I was forbiddened to speak above a whisper in the lending library, and then sparingly to avoid disturbing others. Reprecussions infalliably ensued for failure to observe The Rule. Oh the horrors of modern childhood, when one must be taught to avoid exposure to pornography as one is learning to read.What can one say except to repeat what the Wicked Witch of the West(Wizard of Oz) said as she quickly passed away, "What a world,what a world.". And pray exceedingly, especially for the young ones.

 Written by Pammie

   Quote(2) Is this really a free speech/censorship issue?
November 07th, 2009 | 3:33pm

When I lived in San Jose, CA, the topic of internet porn access at the library was widely discussed.

It was argued by some that it was a "free speech" issue for the users. If so, then why didn't the library have pornographic magazines and DVDs on its shelves for patrons to borrow?

By not having such print and media available, wasn't the library policing and censoring?

 Written by Dan

   Quote(3) Libraries, oh my!
November 07th, 2009 | 5:46pm

Kevin,

I'm so pleased to see a column by you!

Down on my end of town, though the librarians always act quickly, I have taken to always using one of the computers with the screen facing the library, instead of one with the screen facing the wall.

Alternatively, I've found a nice little place with free WiFi that lets me stay 2-3 hours without complaining, so long as I come after 1pm.

Kamilla

 Written by Kamilla

   Quote(4) Part of the Cycle, but Not the Origin of the Problem
November 07th, 2009 | 8:22pm

Good article, thank you! Yes, this is something that on its face is tragically dysfunctional. I hope librarians do indeed file charges against their government masters, er, employers.

But I daresay, the situation is not very suprising.

Lump libraries in with public schools, Amtrak, Medicare, the Post Office, Social Security, and soon Universal Health Care. Wasteful and inefficient bureacracies that have become part of a morally downward spiral of non-accountability punctuated by wolf-in-sheep's-clothing government programs claiming to help folks.

Grab your soma pill....

 Written by Steve H

   Quote(5) The First Amendment
November 08th, 2009 | 9:04am

The purpose of the First Amendment was to protect political speech that was critical of the government. In Europe it was standard practice to arrest anyone who spoke out against the government, and we wanted to protect the right of citizens to speak up and criticize the government, various government policies, etc.

Somehow, this right of political criticism has morphed into a defense of pornography. A "Hugh Hefner First Amendment Award?"
The Founding Fathers must be spinning in their graves. The intent of the First Amendment was certainly not to prohibit local government from cracking down on pornographers, but again, somehow this has morphed into something totally different than intended.

I have read of accounts of perverts viewing porn on library computers, making lewd remarks to teenage girls, etc, and the library staff being unable to do anything about it. The First Amendment was not intended to protect obnoxious behavior.
Unfortunately, we seem to have some judges who believe that the Constitution says whatever they want it to so.

 Written by Austin

   Quote(6) FORCE is the problem, freedom is the answer
November 08th, 2009 | 12:29pm

Lump libraries in with public schools, Amtrak, Medicare, the Post Office, Social Security, and soon Universal Health Care. Wasteful and inefficient bureacracies ...

— Steve H

Steve (inadvertently?) describes the problem. Libraries, like all the listed government agencies, are based completely on the use of force to take the money (property) of citizens to be in existence. Nothing about public libraries is based on voluntary action.

People who want to prohibit morality and religion in public schools have a strong argument to do so because they are forced to pay for it. People who want to view pornography at the public library have a strong argument to do so because they are forced to pay for it.

The library does not belong to the librarians, but to the public. It is a perverted "tragedy of the commons".

When the librarians set up a for-profit private libraries funded by user fees and sales, then they can tell people what they can and cannot do at their library. At my business, on my property, I decide if people can smoke, carry weapons, bring in their dogs, or whatever. It is my property and my decision, not the government's.

Viewing pornography at the public library is only a symptom of the problem. The problem is the use of force (an evil means) to achieve a good end (libraries, schools, medical care, etc.). It has never worked, will never work, and WILL ALWAYS be evil in the end.

Freedom, private property, and property rights are the answer, not force.

 Written by H. Bunce

   Quote(7) Re: FORCE is the problem, freedom is the answer
November 09th, 2009 | 4:35pm

People who want to prohibit morality and religion in public schools have a strong argument to do so because they are forced to pay for it. People who want to view pornography at the public library have a strong argument to do so because they are forced to pay for it.

— H. Bunce

In America, the people who want the institutions operated by the State have to uphold morality, Christian religious principles, and to refuse pornography have an even stronger argument: not only are they also "forced to pay for it" they are in the majority.

Utopia is not an option.

— David Bergland, 1984 Libertarian Party candidate for President

The libertarian Utopia Mr. Bunce describes is likewise not a politically feasible option. To achieve it would, ironically, require a much greater unity in all things essential - one of those essential things being adherence to a righteous standard of personal morality - than we see today or are likely to see achieved in our lifetimes.

 Written by Micha Elyi

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