Chicago Public Library Staffer Files
Discrimination Charges over Cybersmut
A staffer has filed a sexual discrimination charge against the Chicago Public Library, alleging that her ongoing exposure to Internet pornography viewed on computers by patrons has subjected her to “a sexually offensive/hostile work environment,” and that her repeated complaints to the library administration have gone unheeded.
Laura Morgan, an architecture librarian at CPL’s Harold Washington Library Center, filed the charge with the Chicago District Office of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Illinois Department of Human Rights December 6. Morgan told American Libraries that her complaint was similar to objections expressed early this year by Minneapolis Public Library staff.
Morgan also testified against unrestricted Internet access at a September 19 CPL board of directors meeting, and at hearings held by Illinois House Republicans in August and September.
Morgan said that after a three-and-a-half-hour meeting with attorneys in the city’s Sexual Harassment Office December 1, she put together a two-page letter urging other CPL staff to voice their complaints; she distributed the letter at the main library and faxed it to the branches. Four days later, library officials called her to a predisciplinary meeting for using library resources inappropriately. However, Morgan said, as a result of her efforts a half-dozen staffers have contacted the Sexual Harassment Office.
Posted December 18, 2000.
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