Sunday, May 16, 2010

Librarian reprimanded after 10-year-old caught surfing porn

A Salinas librarian was reprimanded after she caught a 10-year-old boy looking at pornography on one of the library's computers. Librarian Elizabeth McKeighen said that she caught the child looking at the pornography on a computer in the children's area of the library. "I reacted, in all honesty, with shock," McKeighen said.

McKeighen said that she touched the boy on the back. The boy's mother, however, said the librarian smacked the child. Police investigated the incident and McKeighen was warned she could lose her job if it happened again.



"I'm just disturbed that me touching the kid (was) blown out of proportion, and suddenly became much more important than vital issue of porn in library," McKeighen said. Library director Elizabeth Martinez said patrons have right to information and filters would block out more than just the bad stuff.

Martinez, meanwhile, said vigilance is the best defence against people viewing porn. Staff members regularly look over the shoulders of internet users to make sure they are not looking at inappropriate material. "That's our approach, and we know better. We can do it better than any filter. That's our job," Martinez said. Martinez, however, said that filters were put on several gang websites after advice was given by the Salinas Police Department.

With news video.

1 comment:

Peach said...

Why wasn't the Mother monitoring the Child?