Interesting People mailing list archives
Library Age Limits
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Sun, 12 Jun 2005 19:35:59 -0400
Begin forwarded message: From: Thomas Leavitt <thomas () thomasleavitt org> Date: June 12, 2005 6:53:20 PM EDT To: dave () farber net Subject: Re: Library Age Limits What if you happen to *like* children's literature? There are plenty of books for young adults that I find preferable to what passes for adult literature these days. I just bought several books off the local library book sale rack, and my wife and I each wound up reading a book from that pile before our kids ever had a chance to even open it up.That same day, I went into the children's section of the library (without a kid), to pick out a selection of math related items to work through with my older daughter during the summer. What if I'd be an adult with problems
in math (or some other areas of knowledge), looking for "friendlier" materials than I could find in the adult section? What ever happened to simple common sense: Is there a reason the librarystaff couldn't simply go over to one of these "suspicious" individuals and
ask them what their business was? Or, even short of that, simply plunkthemselves down next to one of these individuals and say, "hello" and ask
if they need any help? I have my doubts that anyone with nefarious intentions would be comfortable being even indirectly confronted by anadult. If the library staff aren't comfortable doing this, why not simply schedule a member of the security staff to stroll through the room and say
hello to adults at random - or to be conveniently present when such a "confrontation" is deemed necessary? How do they know these folks aren't related to any of the children involved, and aren't simply watching them?Why the presumption that an adult accompanied by a child is automatically
not suspect, when the vast majority of child abuse cases are perpetratedby someone known to the victim and their family, or a member of the family
itself? Note: the Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library also uses a commercialcontent filter on the computers they make available to the public for use by the Internet - by both children AND adults (this policy appears to have been passed on May 12, 2005), so perhaps the "accompanied adult" policy is
just one more manifestation of an overall mindset. http://www.evpl.org/about-evpl/policies/internetpolicy.html Regards, Thomas LeavittP.S. In case anyone is tempted to regard this as typical of the geographic region in question, I should point out that, here on the California Coast,
in sunny Santa Cruz, at least some of the tot lot playgrounds have asimilar policy: "no unaccompanied adults" or children over a certain age. This is less objectionable, in that there are no "pratical" reasons for an
older person to desire to use a young children's playground, only nostalgic ones, but it is symptomatic of the same pointless paranoia...why we put such effort into protecting children against unlikely dangers, but then fail to protect them against well known and documented dangers of
a much greater likelihood is something our descendants will no doubt puzzle over for long periods. From: David Farber <dave () farber net> Subject: Library Age Limits Date: Sat, 11 Jun 2005 15:32:41 -0400 Begin forwarded message: From: Zach Sparer <zsparer () comcast net> Date: June 11, 2005 12:38:20 PM EDT To: dave () farber net Subject: For IP? Library Age Limits Dave, Thought this article might be of some interesting to the IP community. This specific age restraint isn’t what we’re used to seeing, but it still exists as precedent. I guess if you haven’t learned to read at an adult level by the time you’re of a certain age, you’re SOL. [ or if your a parent or grandparent trying to help your child djf?] Zach Sparer ----- article ---- EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) -- Adults must be accompanied by children in certain sections of Evansville's public libraries. The Evansville-Vanderburgh Library Board voted Thursday to bar unaccompanied adults from children's areas as a precaution against "those who might be there for inappropriate reasons," Evelyn Walker, the library's assistant director of public service told the Evansville Courier & Press. Library director Marcia Au said there have been no reports of children being accosted in the library, but employees have been concerned about some people who are "plunking themselves down" in the children's rooms and watching the youngsters. "Exceptions to the rule will be people doing research, such as teachers, or child-care workers looking for books or other materials for their classes," Walker said. ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as lists-ip () insecure org To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
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