Although a library staff member quickly assured Levy that the inappropriate image had been erased, the boy showed his grandmother the same downloaded image a short time later during the same visit. The next day, Levy returned and found additional sexually explicit images on children’s department computers, according to the November 21 Chicago Tribune. She notified local police, who promised to consult with library officials although it was not clear that a crime had been committed.
“Pornographic material doesn’t have any place in the public library,” Levy told the Tribune, noting that since filtering can be done on home computers, “you can do it in the library.” Assistant Director James Madigan countered that “if we tell parents that we have filters, they will interpret that to mean their kids are safe and that they no longer have to monitor what their kids are doing.” He added that the incident is the library’s first such complaint since the year-old computer system was installed.
Posted November 24, 2003.