Stricter Internet Rules in Public Libraries is a must!

Written by: Stephanie Lulofs
Edited by: Natasha Crljenica


Loutit District Library pictured on left.Photo courtesy of Loutit District Library website









Free public Internet access is connecting people to things that aren’t appropriate to be seen or done in public. While Internet access is essential to the public, there should definitely be stricter rules on what people can and can’t do.

I work in a library, like many other libraries, that offers free Internet access to anybody that comes in. Some libraries have restrictions on who can use the Internet and how long people can use it. But my library, Loutit District Library doesn’t have many restrictions, and the few that we do have aren’t necessarily followed as they should be. LDL is a public library in Grand Haven, which is a pretty conservative town of about 12,000 people.

Mark Rennells, the computer technician at LDL, told me that the original intent of the computer lab in the library was to help people do research and homework. Less than 10 years ago the library had 2 computers by reference, now the computer lab has its own room with 14 computers, and it soon will have an additional 10.

I have worked at this library for almost 5 years, two and a half of them have been spent in the computer lab. I can’t even begin to tell you all the crazy experiences I have been a part of, most of them involving the computers and Internet. I agree with many people in saying that the public should be able to have access to the Internet, because many people including young children’s families may not be able to afford having access at home and therefore not have the chance to experience all that the Internet has to offer. But, there should be limits. And people need to learn to be more appreciative of what they are getting because it’s free! People still complain about how long of a time they may have to wait because they came in at a busy time or because they aren’t allowed to stay on longer, or because the Internet is slow.

Rennells said that there is a vast amount of information out there that people need to be able to use. April Barker, another co-worker also believes that this is important because some students need access to computers and the Internet in order to do a school project, or some people may need it to be able to find and apply for jobs.

According to a recent survey taken by the students of Kansas State University, College students spend a vast majority of time on the internet. Students spend 3 ½ a day online and view 2300 web pages and 500 e-mails a year!


The YouTube video created by KSU students of the Introduction to cultural Anthropology class of Spring 2007, courtesy of YouTube

It is really important to have access to the Internet and nowadays students cannot get away with not having access to the internet because of class requirements.. But I believe that there should be some definite limits. There should be tighter time limits, so that people couldn’t be able to sit down for hours at a time and look up Social networking sites or game playing when other people need to get on to do homework or look for jobs.

I also believe that dating sites and other sites that may contain inappropriate pictures should be banned completely. Those kinds of sites are not appropriate to be looked up in public, especially when children are around. If you are on a dating site, you should be looking that up where other people aren’t around to see what you are doing. The original intent of Internet access at a library wasn’t for Social Networking or dating sites, it was for people to do homework or research.

Time spend online is increasing every year. Therefore, people need to be able to use the internet in a safe way. On several occasions I have looked up at work and caught people looking up inappropriate pictures or subjects. It usually tends to be among teenagers, or middle aged men. Teens are restricted by what they look at, but they still manage to look up subjects that should not be searched in public or seen by the wandering eyes of young children.

Act 212, which complies with the Children’s Internet Protection Act and Michigan Public Act states that children should be protected against visual depictions that are obscene, pornography or harmful to minors. It also states that patrons should not access visual depictions that are obscene. But, even though this rule is posted on the desktops of all computers and on signs posted around the computer lab room, it hasn’t stopped people from going against it and looking at inappropriate things.

I am shocked by some of the things that I have seen adults look at. I thought that by a certain age people knew what was appropriate to do in public and what wasn’t. We even have rules on the computers and on posted signs around the room informing people of the types of sites that shouldn’t be on, but that doesn’t seem to stop people. There was a man that came in one day with his 13 year old daughter. I was watching him and just happened to catch him looking up pictures of women on a very dirty and suggestive adult dating website. And his daughter was on the computer right next to him!

Another situation that everyone at my library is familiar with is a man that used to come in every day of the week and stay on the computers for the whole day that the library was open. He protected his USB drive like it was gold. One day we figured out why, and it is just sad. We had had several people complain about what he was looking up, but could never catch him in the act. Then one day I happened to look up and caught him with a minimized screen, looking at extremely tiny pictures. He argued that it was art and we had no right to take that privilege away. Also, he said that it must have been okay for him to look at since our filters didn’t block the images. But, our policy also clearly states that while our computers are filtered, we can’t guarantee that all inappropriate things will be blocked.

Rennells said that he has had several people throw the excuse for what they were looking at as freedom of speech. They believed that there was nothing wrong with what they were looking up after all this is a free country and everyone has the right to say what they want to say.

Rennells and Barker both agree that people need to have stricter limitations. Rennells believes that libraries need to say that people can’t access pornography or dating websites since many inappropriate pictures come from those sites, but he knows that will never happen. Barker thinks that people should be given stricter time limits, so they can’t stay online all day which would hopefully restrain people from getting into inappropriate websites.

The Grand Rapids Public Library for instance, has limitations on the daily time spend online. According to the the GRPL website,

“ Computer sessions are limited to 1 hour per day for library card holders and 30 minutes per day for internet card holders. Patrons with library fines over $40 are not able to use the public computers.”

In order to use a computer, a person you need a valid library card or intranet card. The GRPL also has strict rules as to what sites viewers are allowed to visit. They’re rules state:

“The Grand Rapids Public Library enforces MCL 397.606 (Sect.6 of the Library Privacy Act).Therefore, the Library does not allow anyone using a computer on Library premises to view matter that is obscene or material that is sexually explicit and harmful to minors, because a minor could view it.Persons who do not comply with this rule will lose their Internet privileges and may lose any or all other Library privileges.”

I, along with a majority of my co-workers, are amazed at what people will look up, especially in public. Do people really think that other people want to see the things they are looking up? I for one get sick of having to see the pictures people are looking up or the variety of topics that I never wanted to know about.