After a report of pornography earlier this month at the Howard County Central Library in Columbia, the library?s Board of Trustees has called for a probe into their policy of not using filters on its computers.
“We haven?t made any decision other than to investigate,” said Charles Broida, one of the board?s seven members. “We?re looking into the question of Internet filtering.”
Valerie Gross, the director of the Howard County Library, said a man reported seeing another man viewing pornographic images at one of the library?s terminals earlier this month. Unlike some surrounding counties, the Howard County library does not have Internet filters on its computers.
“We intervened,” Gross said of the incident. “We requested the customer exit the site he was looking at. He did that and then the customer exited the library.”
Gross said the pornography complaint was the fifth received in five years and the first of 2006.
Board members asked Gross at Wednesday?s meeting to review other county libraries? policies on Internet filters and to research a log of Web sites that customers have visited on library computers, Broida said.
“We asked for a review of the computers to see how many objectionable sites had been accessed,” he said.
The Howard County library prohibits the viewing of pornography on library computers, but relies on customer complaints and staff member observations, instead of filters, to draw attention to infractions. Customers are asked to exit pornographic Web sites if they are caught.
