RICHLAND -- This week we raised the issue of porn at the public library, letting you decide if the library is doing enough to protect kids from seeing too much.

Since our story we've been inundated with emails and comments.

The Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) means users must agree to follow a library's internet policy and have filters but after that the library gets to decide how strict its policy is.

"Our policy has really upped the threshold beyond what's legal and our policy really reflects our community standards," Mid-Columbia Library Administrative Services Director Kyle Cox said.

"Richland is very similar to the Mid-Columbia Library and we are all very similar to the standards across the country, the baseline being what your community wants. That's your standard, Richland Public Library Director Ann Roseberry said.

And that standard is to filter triple-X images. But librarians in Richland staunchly prohibit privacy screens.

The Yakima Valley Regional Library is adamant about giving patrons the right to choose. Librarians leave the monitoring up to parents. Children have filters but parents make the choice to use it or grant kids full access.

The same goes in Seattle.

"Each individual to have access to constitutionally protected material," Seattle Public Library Spokesperson Andra Addison said.

In Seattle, it's open access to everyone. As long as it's legal, it's okay, even if it's explicit. They're not about censorship, they're about protecting user privacy and confidentiality.

"The library believes it's the right and responsibility of parents and legal guardians to determine and monitor their own children's use," Addison said.

And that's where it comes down to choice: choice for parents, choice for the library. Libraries try to walk that line, especially since there is a wide range of what people consider explicit. But all will tell you, filters can be a false sense of security.

"You can be vigilant, and you can be proactive but you cannot prevent it," Rosemary said.

So it's important you know what is okay in your community library before your child sits down at a computer.


LIBRARY INTERENT POLICIES:

MID-COLUMBIA LIBRARIES: http://www.midcolumbialibraries.org/internet-access-policy.

RICHLAND PUBLIC LIBRARY: http://www.richland.lib.wa.us/pinternet.pdf

YAKIMA VALLEY REGIONAL LIBRARY: http://www.yvrl.org/system/policies/internetpolicy

SPOKANE PUBLIC LIBRARY: http://www.spokanelibrary.org/index.php?page=internet_policy

SEATTLE PUBLIC LIBRARY: http://www.spl.org/default.asp?pageID=about_policies_publicuseofinternet


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