KSBW news spoke with Elizabeth McKeighen, who spotted the boy while she made her routine check through the section of the library. "I reacted, in all honesty, [with] shock," she recalls.
She says she tapped the boy on the shoulder to get his attention, but the mother claims she swatted him. The librarian was reprimanded and warned she could be fired if it happens again.
"I'm just disturbed that me touching the kid was blown out of proportion and has suddenly become much more important than the vital issue of pornography in the library," the librarian laments.
She believes that filters could provide a solution to the problem -- and though library officials disagree, saying filters tend to block out important information people need, McKeighen explains that filters have advanced in recent years.
"This is an issue. It happens all the time, every day," she regards. "And while the solution is very challenging, to ignore the problem is only going to exacerbate it and make it worse."
Instead of using filters, the Salinas Public Library requires employees to be vigilant in looking over patrons' shoulders and stopping them if they are visiting to porn websites. Library director Elizabeth Martinez says that approach works "better than any filter."
Earlier this month, the Washington State Supreme Court ruled that filters should be installed on public library computers in that state, saying libraries have the authority to decline adult-oriented material in their collections -- and that discretion, said the court, extends with respect to Internet materials as well.
You may also be interested in this blog post where the librarian has left comments:
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