Was the Obvious tag playing backgammon on the computers in the reference section?

Well, there are all those books you could read. Just saying.

I can understand the library patrons and staff being mad about this sort of thing, but it must be a really big problem if the library itself is mad.

dnrta but libraries do need to raise their standards, it's a library, not walmart.

What a short-sighted hobo (and subby). The library is also good for sink showers and toilet laundry. Good luck showering at the YMCA with all those weirdos.

ArkAngel: I'm not sure if this is better or worse than the homeless guy who was banned from the library for bad hygiene then filed a lawsuit and won $80,000

morristown nj man went pro with it. from nj.com:

"The suits - there have been close to 20 - have won the Morristown native equal parts scorn and support, a good bit of media coverage and hundreds of thousands of dollars in settlements.
"I'm probably the most famous person in New Jersey," he boasted in between forkfuls of rice and sips from a soda from the train station, where he spends much of his time. Kreimer has attracted attention since the Morristown Library case, when he won an $80,000 settlement in 1991 after contending the library unlawfully barred him from the premises because of his hygiene and odd behavior. He won a separate, $150,000 settlement against the town claiming police harassment."

Implement time limits? Then again... you know... probably doesn't take too long.

Article does not disclose what the hell else libraries are good for

Smokin' hot librarians, assmitter.

ArkAngel: I'm not sure if this is better or worse than the homeless guy who was banned from the library for bad hygiene then filed a lawsuit and won $80,000

Citation please.

It is perfectly legal and reasonable to ban a person whos poor hygiene interferes with other people being able to use a library. It is also NOT a first amendment issue to prevent pornography from being accessed on a public library computer. The librarians who are saying this are really just taking the fight against censorship too far. Setting basic acceptable standards in a public place is quite reasonable. Go to City Hall with some hard core porn on your laptop, play it where anyone can see it, and see how fast you will be shown the door by the cops.

Those librarians need to remember what their true mission is: "Enlightenment", not Arousal.


/Many libraries carry Playboy
//Reference only, can't be checked out

Fondling yourself, problem.

Watching porn at the library, who the hell cares?

"ZOMG Librarian! This dude is watching porn!"
"And you know this how?"
"I SAW him doing it! Aren't I a good citizen?"
"No, actually, you're sneaking peaks at what people are doing on library computers. Stop being a peeping Tom."
"...But...Porn?"
"Stay out of other peoples business in the Library or you wont be welcome back."

- paraphrasing of an exchange that happened in a library run by someone I know

video of Ohio guy that got caught using his tugging stick at the library?
Anyone?

Glad to be working in a private university library, where the only sexin' going on is between students in the journal stacks like god intended.

KrispyKritter: ArkAngel: I'm not sure if this is better or worse than the homeless guy who was banned from the library for bad hygiene then filed a lawsuit and won $80,000

morristown nj man went pro with it. from nj.com:

"The suits - there have been close to 20 - have won the Morristown native equal parts scorn and support, a good bit of media coverage and hundreds of thousands of dollars in settlements.
"I'm probably the most famous person in New Jersey," he boasted in between forkfuls of rice and sips from a soda from the train station, where he spends much of his time. Kreimer has attracted attention since the Morristown Library case, when he won an $80,000 settlement in 1991 after contending the library unlawfully barred him from the premises because of his hygiene and odd behavior. He won a separate, $150,000 settlement against the town claiming police harassment."



Ah, I see they settled. Fools. The ADA is quite clear that someone with a disability can be asked to leave if they disability interferes with the operation of the business, after reasable attempts to accommodate them are made. So, someone who has bad body odor can be asked to leave if other patrons cannot use the library because of their stench, a person with Torettes can be asked to leave if they shout obscenities and disturb the library, ect. Had they had any balls and fought the suit they likely would have won.

I used to work for a private security company -- I got sent to a Library off and on for a few months. There was a staff member whose sole purpose was to remotely view computer screens and alert me when creepers were preying on kids or fb chatting with their estranged partners, threatening their lives. People are icky.

CitizenjaQ: Well, there are all those books you could read. Just saying.

That thar's crazy talk. You must be wunna them thar "innerlecshuls", innerested in book larnin and such.

They need to keep bums out of libraries. Limit the amount of crap they can bring in and institute an objective odor test to limit access. If you have more than a backpack or smell bad to a normal person then you aren't allowed inside. If by some miracle it keeps out people who think that cologne and perfume are applied by the cup then all the better. Better still if it keeps out those fashionable purses that have swollen to the size of beach balls.

Wellon Dowd: Article does not disclose what the hell else libraries are good for

Smokin' hot librarians, assmitter.

[farm3.staticflickr.com image 375x500]

I work at two different libraries and sadly there are no attractive librarians. Well one is kinda okay. She's cute but her body is meh.

NkThrasher: Fondling yourself, problem.

Watching porn at the library, who the hell cares?

"ZOMG Librarian! This dude is watching porn!"
"And you know this how?"
"I SAW him doing it! Aren't I a good citizen?"
"No, actually, you're sneaking peaks at what people are doing on library computers. Stop being a peeping Tom."
"...But...Porn?"
"Stay out of other peoples business in the Library or you wont be welcome back."

- paraphrasing of an exchange that happened in a library run by someone I know

Also. This. I always hate confronting patrons about watching porn because unless I see them doing it first hand it turns into a he said/they said thing.

Isn't it mostly homeless people that dont have internet at home or on their phone? Just make the internet part in libraries seperate from the kids so homeless people can beat it.

Story time!

Once worked in a college library doing inventory/periodicals. Was in the basement area going through buisness mag archives when I pulled one binder out and about half a years worth of hustler/playboys fell out. Turns out some clever/horny/internetless bastard had cut out all the mags and replaced it with his own private stash. What did I do? Why the only rational thing of course! I took the binders and filed them properly in the nature/science section of the archive. Of all the nerve to put them in the wrong place!


... Seriously tho, tossed that stuff in the trash! Pages might stick and would ruin the reading value!

/The things people do to library workers.

OscarTamerz: They need to keep bums out of libraries. Limit the amount of crap they can bring in and institute an objective odor test to limit access. If you have more than a backpack or smell bad to a normal person then you aren't allowed inside. If by some miracle it keeps out people who think that cologne and perfume are applied by the cup then all the better. Better still if it keeps out those fashionable purses that have swollen to the size of beach balls.


No. Homeless NEED Libraries more than anyone. They need to be able to better/educate/entertain themselves, and libraries fill that vital need. You and I can afford books, computers, ect. They NEED libraries more than anyone. BUT! That doesn't mean acceptable standards of behavior and hygiene shouldn't be in place. Libraries need to be safe, accessable and comfortable for ALL citizens.

As someone who has worked in a library for quite a few years,

oblig:



and



/images hot like a naughty librarian

As a librarian who works in a public library, I can address a couple issues brought up by farkers above.

Libraries are public buildings intended to be community gathering places. We don't kick you out because you are homeless. We might kick you out if you are snoring loudly, disruptively stinky, or your piles of stuff is a tripping hazard. We will not kick you out for viewing porn on our computers. We will ask you to move to a computer where others can't see what you're doing if we get a complaint. Basically, everyone has a right to be in a library and to read or view what they want, as long as others are not disrupted.
Here are my library system's Rules of Conduct http://www.kcls.org/usingthelibrary/policies/RulesofConductPolicy.pdf

Now, if you bring your screaming brat into my library, your ass is getting ejected immediately.

I don't understand this. At our library, in Wisconsin, they do block porn sites. The filters block out a lot of other things also but, mostly just porn. So I guess it must be a state to state thing.

dilettantegrrl: As a librarian who works in a public library, I can address a couple issues brought up by farkers above.

Libraries are public buildings intended to be community gathering places. We don't kick you out because you are homeless. We might kick you out if you are snoring loudly, disruptively stinky, or your piles of stuff is a tripping hazard. We will not kick you out for viewing porn on our computers. We will ask you to move to a computer where others can't see what you're doing if we get a complaint. Basically, everyone has a right to be in a library and to read or view what they want, as long as others are not disrupted.
Here are my library system's Rules of Conduct http://www.kcls.org/usingthelibrary/policies/RulesofConductPolicy.pdf

Now, if you bring your screaming brat into my library, your ass is getting ejected immediately.

Yeah. As librarians it's hard to kick people out. It's not in the spirit of what we do. Unfortunately, many homeless people (some of whom are drunk, one of whom just recently peed in one of our chairs, often they also smell) will hang out all day and I fear drive other patrons away. But it's the nature of public spaces.

domo_kun_sai: I don't understand this. At our library, in Wisconsin, they do block porn sites. The filters block out a lot of other things also but, mostly just porn. So I guess it must be a state to state thing.

It's funny. The official Supreme Court ruling on filtering (yes there really was) was that computers CAN be filtered but the filter must be able to be removed immediately by the request of an adult aged 18 or older. Funny enough, there's no real punishment against a library even if they refuse this arrangement. Which is weird. It's more a library to library thing.

Beluga Heights: dilettantegrrl: As a librarian who works in a public library, I can address a couple issues brought up by farkers above.

Libraries are public buildings intended to be community gathering places. We don't kick you out because you are homeless. We might kick you out if you are snoring loudly, disruptively stinky, or your piles of stuff is a tripping hazard. We will not kick you out for viewing porn on our computers. We will ask you to move to a computer where others can't see what you're doing if we get a complaint. Basically, everyone has a right to be in a library and to read or view what they want, as long as others are not disrupted.
Here are my library system's Rules of Conduct http://www.kcls.org/usingthelibrary/policies/RulesofConductPolicy.pdf

Now, if you bring your screaming brat into my library, your ass is getting ejected immediately.

Yeah. As librarians it's hard to kick people out. It's not in the spirit of what we do. Unfortunately, many homeless people (some of whom are drunk, one of whom just recently peed in one of our chairs, often they also smell) will hang out all day and I fear drive other patrons away. But it's the nature of public spaces.

Exactly. My dad works as a security officer for a college and he gets to screen people coming in to his building. Basically they have to have a good reason to be there. I told him if I got to screen the meth-heads, drunks and crazies from my libraries at the door, they would be much more pleasant places, but that's just not how a public library works. Sort of tangentially, I think more people from the middle and upper socio-economic ranks should come hang in a library and see a side of society they often get to ignore. I might be naive in thinking that it might give such folks a broader view of the world, but I am a librarian.

Article does not disclose what the hell else libraries are good for

Wow, people on Fark can even find ways to hate on LIBRARIES? Jesus farking Christ.

Yeah, I've seen this at my university library way too often. Usually they're also whacking the weasel in plain sight. Don't know where the library Nazi's are when this is happening.

I mean open a soda, instantly busted and written up.
Beat off and watch porn, go ahead about your business.

desertgeek: But we don't want to see a bunch of perverts around here either.

Here, the librarians don't care whether you're looking at porn in the adult computer lab. They will happily oblige and type in the password for the filter for you. Indeed, they wish it wasn't there at all, because it causes no end of questions about why certain sites are banned and others not. Because filters are not perfect.

If you want to look at porn, you just have to get the stones to ask.

As for patrolling the computer area, what kind of nonsense is that?

dilettantegrrl: As a librarian who works in a public library, I can address a couple issues brought up by farkers above.

... We will not kick you out for viewing porn on our computers. We will ask you to move to a computer where others can't see what you're doing if we get a complaint. ...
.


Bullshiat. I'm sure when somebody complains that the guy in front of them is watching a compilation of the worlds greatest cumshots and double penetrations, that you politely ask them to please move their jerkoff station to the back row.

Public library mad? No, public library quiet.

desertgeek: But we don't want to see a bunch of perverts around here either.

No men, then? Sounds like a class-action lawsuit waiting to happen.

desertgeek: //Also used to work the computer room in college
///Porn was OK there.
//Playing games wasn't however.
/No idea on the logic there.

Bandwidth. Hosting a game server farking kills the bandwidth - you can have 4-128 simultaneous connections wrecking the network, especially if the school doesn't have a big pipe to the outside world. Downloading porn is usually a solitary activity.

I'm surprised no one mentioned it, but--there's also smut in the books, if you know where to look. Not lame metaphorical bodice-ripper language, but unwholesome juicy explicitness.


/Of course, this only really works for literate people....

frontbutt: dilettantegrrl: As a librarian who works in a public library, I can address a couple issues brought up by farkers above.

... We will not kick you out for viewing porn on our computers. We will ask you to move to a computer where others can't see what you're doing if we get a complaint. ...
.


Bullshiat. I'm sure when somebody complains that the guy in front of them is watching a compilation of the worlds greatest cumshots and double penetrations, that you politely ask them to please move their jerkoff station to the back row.


I have done exactly that. Guy was watching full-penetration porn when a woman walked behind him (we have privacy screens on the monitors) and saw what he was watching. She came to me to tell me what she saw. I suggested to the guy that he take a computer that had a screen without a pathway behind him. No big conflict. I explained to the woman that we did not filter our internet access except for minors, but I gave the guy the strong hint that he needed to keep his crap to himself.

I get more push-back from mothers when I suggest that their spawn be prevented from climbing bookshelves and screaming than I do from pervs, but maybe I've just been lucky so far.

Time and time again, freedom of speech has been upheld here.

The outrage should be over him masturbating. You can't do that.

give me doughnuts: I'm just about to graduate with an MLS to go along with my JD. The libraries I'll be working in have neither children, nor homeless people.

It's bliss.

Good luck. Do you have a job to go with that sense of entitlement?

give me doughnuts: I'm just about to graduate with an MLS to go along with my JD. The libraries I'll be working in have neither children, nor homeless people.



Prison libraries are like that

give me doughnuts: dilettantegrrl: give me doughnuts: I'm just about to graduate with an MLS to go along with my JD. The libraries I'll be working in have neither children, nor homeless people.

It's bliss.

Good luck. Do you have a job to go with that sense of entitlement?

What sense of entitlement?

Maybe you do have a job lined up that will be happiness and sunshine every day. If so, I am happy for you. Your comment suggests you may not be aware that the job market, even with a JD and an MLS, is extremely difficult.