Porn 7.5% of Dallas PL Net Hits

A local newspaper’s analysis of web pages accessed at the Dallas Public Library’s central library showed that some 7.5 percent of pages viewed during one 45-minute period contained pornography, prompting concern from city officials and a new debate about whether to install software filters. On February 11, library officials were to brief the Dallas city council. “We will explain our procedure for dealing with inappropriate behavior at the library,” assistant director Miriam Rodriguez told LJ, and will explore “any new technology available.” [The meeting was moved to Tuesday, February 12.]

The 7.5 percent statistic, which Dallas Morning News reporter Dave Levinthal confirmed to LJ was representative of several samples studied, seems somewhat high compared with earlier analyses. In his 2000 survey, Dangerous Access, librarian/activist David Burt estimated that “between 0.5 percent and 2.5 percent of Internet use in public libraries is probably for pornographic purposes,” though some larger libraries may have higher numbers. The Chicago Public Library in 1999 reported that less than five percent of its traffic went to sexually explicit web sites.

While the newspaper reported that the mayor and deputy mayor said software filters are probably warranted, Dallas city manager Mary Suhm, trained as a librarian, told the paper the city was concerned about the issue but doesn’t support filtering. The library requires patrons to click on an Internet Acceptable Use Policy before using the Internet and employs a Code of Conduct to police “behaviors that disturb the normal activities or environment for other users or city staff”; computer privileges can be withdrawn and customers ejected.

Also, computers are in clear view of library staff, who can send pop-up messages to customers telling them “the materials [you] are looking at are inappropriate, please close the site,” Rodriguez noted. The library has barred 36 people from the central library in the past year for Internet-related violations.