[WEB4LIB] Saying no to porn sites from our library's home page

[Gary E. Masters]

If you ever see a piebald horse and do not think of his tail, you will get
a pot of gold.

You could win the gold if (a) you don't know this, or (b) you don't know
what "piebald" is.

It is black and white in patches.  I would call it a "paint."

Why call attention to it?  I can think of sites that are worse than porn,
but that is just my opinion.  I would wait for complaints and try to solve
each case on its own merits.  Why look for problems?  Some may see this as
pre-emptive, but I would stay away from it.  What if someone is offended by
the link and does not click on it?  They could go away and say that your
library advertises porn.  

I know this is a problem.  Let us try not to find a solution that is worse.

Our library does ask people to behave, but does not limit information sources.

By the way, nudity and sex and porn are not always the same idea.  I
imagine you could have porn without nudity and nudity without porn.  I can
even imagine sex without porn.  I don't know abou the other way, but it is
likely.  

Hope this helps.

Gary Masters




At 08:24 AM 7/15/99 -0700, Hanan Cohen wrote:
>We have a computer class in our library where we let people use them for
>accessing the internet (including mail and irc).
>
>We don't want people to surf to porn sites but we also don't want to get
>into the censoring business. 
>So, I have put a link from our home page to "sex sites". Naturally, this
>is the first link people click. It links to a page saying : 
>"viewing nude pictures sould be done privately and 
>some people are offended by exposure to such material 
>so 
>surfing to porn sites from the library is forbidden.
>whoever is cought surfing porn sites will be asked to leave the library.
>
>What do you think about our strategy ?
>
>Thanks
>
>-- 
>Hanan Cohen
>
>Qiriat-Gat Central Library http://www.qglibrary.org.il
>Kibbutz Tamuz - Beit Shemesh http://www.tamuz.org.il
>***Love and Peace***
>
>
Gary E. Masters
Automated Services Librarian
Texas A&M International University
(956) 326-2137 (voice)
(956) 326-2399 (fax)