Seattle libraries: No sleeping or eating allowed, but porn-watching OK

A computer is shown at the Lake City Branch of the Seattle Public Library on Tuesday, January 31, 2012. A patron recently complained after seeing a man openly viewing pornography on the computer. The librarian responded that it was not their responsibility to monitor the computers. less A computer is shown at the Lake City Branch of the Seattle Public Library on Tuesday, January 31, 2012. A patron recently complained after seeing a man openly viewing pornography on the computer. The librarian ... more Photo: JOSHUA TRUJILLO Photo: JOSHUA TRUJILLO Image 1 of / 5 Caption Close Seattle libraries: No sleeping or eating allowed, but porn-watching OK 1 / 5 Back to Gallery

The Seattle Public Library has a long list of rules of things you can't do in the library, to ensure "comfort and safety" of staff and patrons. You can't eat, sleep, look like you're sleeping, be barefoot, be too stinky or talk too loudly.

But you can watch graphic porn on a public computer in front of kids. Despite repeated complaints from female patrons about men watching porn in full view of their children, the library has held fast to its policy of unfettered online access for grown-ups.

The reason: It's not in the business of censorship.

The latest dust-up comes after a mother with her two kids saw a man watching "hard-core porn" at the Lake City library and complained. When the librarian refused to ask the man move to a less visible screen, Julie Howe wrote the library, the media and lawyers and got on KUOW.

"It was very shocking," said Howe, whose 10-year-old girl had seen the man's screen and cried that night. But, she acknowledged, "it's not an easy one to solve."

Other libraries also allow porn

The library's position was mirrored elsewhere. The King County Library System has a similar policy, of filtering kids' access on computers, while allowing adults to roam freely. The American Library Association endorses the same stance.

"Sometimes, in a library, you're going to see information that's going to make you uncomfortable," Barbara Jones, director of the association's intellectual freedom office, said on KUOW Wednesday.

She said many leading libraries do not filter computer access. Only libraries that receive federal funds for affordable Internet access are required to filter content.

But Jones said the issue was a constant "balancing act." Many libraries have separate kids' areas, away from computers.

But in Wenatchee, home of the state's largest library district - the five-county North Central Regional Library – librarians are fighting an ACLU lawsuit over their use of computer filters. The district won the case in the state Supreme Court two years ago, but the case is now pending in a federal court.

"We are a publicly funded institution. Our mission is to promote reading and lifelong learning," wrote director Dean Marney on the library's site.

"It is crazy to think that we should be required to use tax dollars to allow open access to internet pornography or to become illegal casinos."

Seattle Public Library's rules include a ban on gambling and felony behaviors.

On Wednesday, calls to Seattle City Councilmembers Jean Godden and Richard Conlin – who oversee the library committee – were referred to the Library Board. A call and email to the president of the board, which sets policy, were not returned.

A Seattle library official had said the library wanted to work with Howe and other complainants to mitigate "inadvertent viewing." But the few options raised weren't easy or that effective.

Moving computers away from bookshelves and other materials is difficult in small, branch libraries. Privacy screens, which the library uses on its computers, only prevent viewing from the side.

They don't screen the view if you're standing behind a computer user, as Howe was at the Lake City library's information desk. She said she was about 20 feet from the porn watcher.

"None of the privacy screens available that we've been able to find prevent viewing from directly behind," said Seattle Public Library spokeswoman Caroline Ullmann. "We're using a model that we think is as effective as can be."

'You should be more honest'

Howe, who has two kids, had tried applying a state law that bans displaying sexually explicit content in public. But that law requires intent, and the material must be visible from a "public thoroughfare, park or playground."

She figured the library wasn't going to budge. But what peeved her was a librarian's statement, that "the library is a public space; it's more like a bus stop than a safe haven."

Meaning, you'll encounter creeps at a bus stop, and you should watch your kids.

"I said, 'I think you're right,'" Howe said. "But this is not the way you position yourself. When you go to the library's site, you've got pictures of kids in pajamas for story time. You should be more honest."

Maybe a warning to parents would help, she said. Just make sure it isn't too loud or disturbing to the porn patrons.

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Visit seattlepi.com's home page for more Seattle news. Contact Vanessa Ho at 206-448-8003 or vanessaho@seattlepi.com, and follow her on Twitter as @vanessaho.