Prompted by a grievance filed a week earlier with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission by seven Minneapolis Public Library staff members, library trustees drafted a policy May 10 intended to address the apparently widespread accessing of sexually explicit Web sites and chat rooms by patrons using the library’s computers.
The policy sets a strict 30-minute time limit at each Internet work station, requires patrons to show proper identification, and prohibits minors from viewing Web sites considered harmful or improper, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported May 11. Signs have also been posted warning against sending, receiving, printing, or displaying text or graphics in violation of Minnesota statutes concerning sexually explicit materials.
Librarian II Wendy Adamson told reporters that just having the signs up has made a big difference. “This has become a totally changed environment since the board proposed changes,” she said. “This enormous pall has lifted.”
The new policy will not affect the EEOC complaint, according to Adamson, who is one of the filers. “This is an important issue that involves sexual harassment,” she told American Libraries. “Whatever happens here will have an impact all over the country. We’re not going after anyone; we love our library and are very loyal. This is for the profession.”
Adamson also said that the library guards, for the first time in three years, have been given the authority to walk up to people who are violating the policy. “They are being very alert, very polite,” she emphasized, “and they are doing the job we all thought they should do and that they wanted to do.”
Posted May 15, 2000.