A librarian who stopped the Internet session of several young men who were viewing pornographic material at Toronto Public Library's Downsview branch soon found herself being chased away from the workstation by a 19-year-old spewing racist obscenities, according to the February 25 Toronto Sun. Coworkers of the woman intervened to protect her and the librarian filed a police report. No arrests have been made in the February 24 incident.
“Police were shocked by the large number of kids looking at sex on the Internet [on library terminals],” Detective Steve Craddock told the Sun. Craddock and fellow officers told the newspaper that youngsters flock to the branch during school lunch periods and after classes to view sexually explicit materials.
“It does happen that young children do see sex on the Internet,” TPL spokesperson Kim Huntley admitted, adding that “If there's inappropriate behavior, we ask them to move on or to leave.”
Posted March 1, 1999.