A number of residents here are considerably less than thrilled about finding a pair of middle-aged male patrons of the Oak Park High School Library using its computer terminals to see Internet porn.
These residents, who aren't giving their names to reporters tracking the story, say the two men are at the library daily surfing porn sites, with one woman saying she tipped authorities who told her adults have the right to see any Website they want at a public library, never mind porn, under the First Amendment.
It's somewhat rare for a high school library to be open to the public, but the Oak Park situation poses the challenge—even with separate hours for students and the general public—of protecting underage students from porn without abrogating the First Amendment rights of adults using the library, as one local newspaper put it.
And, computers meant for adults to use are fitted with privacy screens, with students not allowed to use those computers, according to Oak Park High School principal Lynn McCormick, who said it's not the school officials' responsibility to tell adult patrons where they can or cannot be online.
Oak Park High School Library and all Ventura County, California libraries installed Internet filtering years before the federal Children's Internet Protection Act made it mandatory for libraries receiving federal funds—which Oak Park doesn't receive.
"What happens during public library hours is in the public domain," said Oak Park school superindendent Tony Knight to reporters, adding that the issue of possible porn surfing in the library's computers by adults never even came up when the school board discussed making Oak Park High's library an all-access facility. "We want to do everything in our power during school library hours to protect our students from viewing adult material."
