A week after implementing an Internet-use policy that includes the showing of proper identification and signage cautioning against the display of obscene images, Minneapolis Public Library Director Mary Lawson and board President Laurie Savran issued an online apology May 16 “to anyone who saw images on library computers that they found offensive.”
But despite Lawson and Savran also pledging to seek “agreeable, long-term solutions for our staff,” library workers would also like a personal apology, according to the May 18 Minneapolis Star Tribune. “I think it’s important that the staff hears a direct apology from the administration,” said Wendy Adamson, one of seven staffers who filed a grievance with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission May 3.
Lawson has responded that she will speak with staff during three meetings planned over the next week.
Since the policy was implemented, eight patrons have been asked to leave the library, and a strictly enforced 30-minute time limit has freed terminals that previously were in use all day long.
Posted May 22, 2000.