Posted February 25, 2005.

Omaha Politicians Clash over Library’s Video Policy

Two candidates vying to unseat an Omaha City Council member in the April 5 primary are at odds over the mid-February revision of a city-library policy that restricted children in the 8th grade and below to borrowing films from the juvenile collection. The new policy removes the age barrier from the library’s 6,000-title video and DVD collection, which includes 140 R-rated movies. However, parents can block children under 18 from borrowing R-rated films.

“The library should at least have the same standards that movie theaters and rental stores have to follow,” Mike Cavanaugh said in the February 22 Omaha World-Herald. “It is unrealistic to expect a parent to watch their children 24/7.”

Cavanaugh’s opponent, library board member Cliff Herd, told the World-Herald that it “is more the role of the parent to decide” whether children should have access to movies with mature themes. Library Director Rivkah Sass agreed. “We want parents to be involved in what their kids are watching, reading, and everything else,” she said.

Herd was one of six trustees who approved the revised policy.

Posted February 25, 2005.