A public library in suburban Chicago will continue to allow its adult patrons to access Internet porn on its computers, despite complaints surfacing last fall that some patrons were visibly looking at porn, making the space unsafe for children.
The library's board voted 5-2 on Wednesday night to continue its current policy of allowing adult patrons to look at whatever they wish -- so long as it is legal -- on the computers, while using filters on a separate section of computers used by young adults and children, WGN reports.
Library officials say it is "a constitutional matter" and that they are protecting the First Amendment with their policy of letting adult patrons view whatever legal content they choose, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
The library on Wednesday did opt to make their policy on patron behavior more specific, banning behaviors -- such as staring or lurking -- that verbally or physically threaten others, the Sun-Times reports.
In a further compromise, librarians also specifically now have the ability to stop the viewing of "material which may be disturbing or offensive to others within viewing distance," the Chicago Tribune reports.
As Patch notes, the library's porn policy became a hot topic -- and even made it to "Weekend Update" on NBC's "Saturday Night Live" -- when a suburban woman complained that she saw a man on a library computer looking at an "LCD-colored, oiled breasted naked woman."
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