Missouri Law: Libraries Must
Restrict Minors’ Access
Under 2002 state legislation that went into effect January 1, Missouri public libraries must now restrict minors from accessing sexually explicit materials by either filtering their Internet access or by implementing “a policy that is consistent with community standards and establishes measures to restrict minors from gaining computer access to material that is pornographic for minors.”
Randy Scherr, a lobbyist for the Missouri Library Association, said most libraries were already in compliance with the law several years ago, the Jefferson City News Tribune reported December 31. The Daniel Boone Regional Library and Centralia Public Library, for example, only needed to complete the paperwork to demonstrate compliance, according to the January 1 Columbia Missourian.
The St. Charles City-County Library District, however, decided its existing tap-on-the-shoulder policy wouldn’t meet the new state law and, based upon library counsel’s recommendation, installed CyberPatrol filtering software on computers for use by minors, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported January 1.
St. Charles Director Carl Sandstedt said no one under 18 would be allowed to use an unfiltered computer. “We would be in violation of the law even if we allowed a parent and a child under the age of 18 to sit together at an unfiltered computer,” he said.
Posted January 13, 2003.
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