Montana Senate Considers Tightening
Supervision of Minors’ Library Use
The Montana Senate is considering two bills sponsored by Sen. Jack Wells (R-Bozeman) that would police how patrons under 18 use their public libraries.
SB 139 requires public libraries to establish acceptable-use policies that bar minors from obscenity, pornography, or material deemed harmful to them through filters or other means. It also requires libraries to codify “measures to be taken against a person who willfully violates the policy” and establish procedures to review within 48 hours complaints about being denied access to “material that is not within the prohibition.” SB 140 amends the state’s library-confidentiality law to allow parents or guardians access on written request to their children’s borrowing record.
At a January 15 hearing on the Internet bill by the Senate Education Committee, Wells argued, “We need to protect children against something that can infect the mind.” State Librarian Karen Strege countered that the bill is unnecessary because every library offering public access already has an AUP, according to a January 16 Associated Press report.
Posted January 22, 2001.
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