news-record.com

I use the downtown library a few times a month. It's clean, quiet, well-supervised, well-organized and filled with things I want -- namely, books. I've been every day of the week and at all hours of the day. I can't think of the last time I've seen or heard any misbehavior. Of course, I don't go looking for it either.

I say all that to illustrate my bias up front. I like the library. It does exactly what I want a library to do.

That brings me to the effort by some members of city council to do something more about the porn that patrons can view on library computers. We have a story slated for publication Monday by Amanda Lehmert that is more in-depth. Meanwhile, Amanda gives a few hints about what's to come at Inside Scoop.

Not surprisingly, there were more reports of disorderly conduct than of improper website viewing. Of the 114,000 computer users at the library for the first six months of the year, 13 people were banned for inappropriate computer use. Of the 200 reports mentioned at the City Council meeting last week, only one involved a child possibly seeing an offensive image on a computer screen. Seems to me as if director Sandy Neerman and the staff are doing a pretty good job.

While I know that it is political suicide not to support banning porn at the library, I hope the City Council doesn't spend much time or money on this. It hardly ranks among the top 20 city problems.