Library Settles Net Porn Complaint For Six Figures

Library officials here will ponder whether to restrict patron access to Internet porn while agreeing to pay $435,000 to "a dozen librarians," to settle a lawsuit charging the presence of Net porn on library computers equaled a "hostile" environment, a local television station reported over the weekend. 

WCCO-TV reported that the librarians' attorney, Bob Halagan, said the point wasn't money but to get staff complaints about this kind of "hostile environment" taken seriously. The librarians also emphasized the issue wasn't intellectual freedom but whether "obscene" material should be displayed so openly.

The station added that Minneapolis library officials will consider Net filtering to screen "certain materials," material printing changes, and additional sanctions for anyone who violates library Net policies. 

Library trustee Laurie Savran, who represented the library board in negotiations with the librarians in question, issued an apology during a daylong settlement conference, WCCO said. "I apologized to the 12 plaintiffs that this happened to them and that it was so difficult for them and that we didn't address their concerns more expeditiously," she told the station.

The dispute began in 1997, after Minneapolis launched library Net access, with the suit charging library terminals particularly attracted users "hungry" for Net porn, WCCO said, and that staffers and children in the library were exposed to the images. Some librarians believed Lawson didn't take their complaints seriously enough and filed complaints with state and federal agencies, WCCO added, with the federal Equal Employment Opportunities Commission finding probable cause that federal law was violated in 2001. 

The Justice Department declined to sue the library on behalf of the librarians, WCCO said, so Halagan sued in March.