Man Arrested for Viewing Child Porn at LA Library

Staff -- Library Journal, 6/21/1999

A 20-year old man was arrested June 9 for viewing photos of naked children at the Lafayette Public Library, LA, after librarians spotted him doing so at a terminal in the middle of the reference room. They then called city police, who used the browser's "back" button to view other sites Andrew Roberts had visited, judged they were child pornography, and arrested him. Only after the arrest, said Director of Libraries Gail Smith, did police discover Roberts had previously pled guilty to charges involving child pornography and the theft of $24,000 worth of computers from the University of Southern Louisiana. Contrary to a report in the June 12 Baton Rouge Advocate, Smith said Roberts had not downloaded any sites to a disk. The Lafayette library does not currently use filters or employ a "tap on the shoulder" policy for nudity (as opposed to illegality), but Smith said, "I think we are going to be incrementally more restrictive." As a first step, she will recommend increased enforcement of the policy that the "librarian has the right to determine appropriate use of the workstation." She observed that the American Library Association's call for each community to determine its own Internet policy can lead to pressure on a library like Lafayette's, as neighboring communities have more restrictive policies.