Resident: Library should block porn

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EODLS Board President Dave Tayrien, seated at left, addresses board members and library patrons after Muskogee parent Thomas Faulk asked the board to change the library system’s Internet access policy to block the viewing of pornography by adults on library computers. Staff photo by Kirk Kramer
Library patron Steve Rathbun, standing second from right, addresses the EODLS board Tuesday. Rathbun and other patrons asked the board to change the library system’s Internet access policy to forbid the viewing of pornography on library computers. Staff photo by Kirk Kramer

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January 19, 2011

Man challenges policy that allows adults to bypass filters

By Kirk Kramer Phoenix Staff Writer The Muskogee Phoenix Wed Jan 19, 2011, 12:22 AM CST

Current policy at Muskogee Public Library allows the viewing of pornography on library computers. Thomas Faulk wants that policy changed.

He spoke Tuesday at a board meeting of the Eastern Oklahoma District Library System, of which Muskogee’s library is a part.

“We believe the viewing of pornography has no place whatsoever in a public, taxpayer-funded library, and we are therefore appealing to you to take action and change the current open access policy,” Faulk said in a statement to the board.

Faulk, the manager of a commercial waste hauling company, said the Oklahoma City and Tulsa library systems have policies stating that library patrons cannot bypass filters that block pornographic sites unless they can show the site has legitimate research value. He wants EODLS policy changed so that it conforms to Tulsa’s and Oklahoma City’s.

Library board president Dave Tayrien of Grove responded to Faulk’s appeal by appointing a committee to study EODLS internet access policy. Board members Sally Ashby, Lynda Hagar and Jill Hayes will join EODLS Director Mary Moroney and Muskogee Library Manager Jan Bryant on the committee.

“Public libraries should provide free and open access to all information to anybody who comes in the door,” Moroney said after the meeting. “We serve the public and need to listen to their concerns. That’s what we’re going to do by forming this committee.”

At the end of the meeting, board member Patricia Heise of Delaware County asked Moroney whether library computers have privacy screens.

Moroney confirmed that such screens are in use.

Chandra Faulk homeschools her four children, and the family regularly uses the Muskogee library. She said a news article about a lawsuit over viewing pornography in an Alabama library led her and her husband to look into the policy at the public library here.

“(Library officials) confirmed that have an open access policy that allows the viewing of pornography,” Chandra Faulk said. “They said, yes, people can sit there and view hard-core pornography. They don’t monitor or control it.

“We are big fans of the library, and we use it a lot. The library is such a big part of our kids’ education. We don’t feel porn has a place there, especially with all the children running around. That’s why we are so concerned.”

Hagar said she was on the local library board in Stilwell several years ago during a similar controversy.

“We changed the location of the computers,” Hagar said. “We made it so only the person at the computer could see what was on the screen. There was no change to the Internet access policy. You have a choice when you log on whether to have filtered or unfiltered access to the Internet.”

In other business, the board:

• Approved a new salary schedule for employees of all EODLS branches. It will raise the amount budgeted for salaries from $2,873,000 to $3,361,000.

• Voted to raise Moroney’s salary from $77,200 to $82,250.

• Approved funding of a $25,000 study that could lead to performance-based salary raises, instead of the automatic annual raises employees now receive.

Reach Kirk Kramer at 684-2901 or kkramer@muskogeephoenix.com.

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