Officials in three towns served by the Yakima (Wash.) Valley Regional Library are demanding that their libraries block all users from accessing objectionable material online and stop offering a choice between filtered and unfiltered Internet access.
“If the library board doesn’t do something about it, and the funding comes up, there’s going to be a fight about it,” Yakima Mayor John Puccinelli stated in the October 30 Yakima Herald-Republic.
The newspaper reported that officials in Selah and Zillah are considering canceling their branch-library contracts with YVRL. Local concerns in Selah were triggered after a group of children visiting the library saw sexually explicit images on a computer screen being used by other minors. “My daughter can now tell you what oral sex is because she went to the library,” Angela Ott said of her 7-year-old at an October 26 church meeting about library Internet access.
“Our policy is evolving,” YVRL trustee Darlene Lust said at an October 26 board meeting.
Posted November 8, 1999.