Supervisor Antonovich says librarian plan not good enough

Santa Clarita County Supervisor Mike Antonovich has called county top librarian's plan to keep children from inadvertently seeing internet pornography "not good enough."

The county’s top librarian has proposed measures to keep children from inadvertently seeing Internet pornography while it is being viewed by adults in public libraries.

County Supervisor Michael Antonovich said, however, that's not good enough -- and the goal is to eliminate pornography completely from the Los Angeles County libraries.

"We will have a motion on the agenda Tuesday asking the librarian to come up with a way to eliminate pornography (from library computers)," said Tony Bell, spokesman for the supervisor, whose district includes the Santa Clarita Valley.

Four weeks ago, the Board of Supervisors directed County Librarian Margaret Donnellan Todd to report on the issue of pornography in county libraries.

The situation came to the supervisors' attention after a Canyon Country woman visited the local library with her 4-year-old daughter and noticed a man sitting next to them viewing pornography in plain sight of her child.

Librarian Todd, had tried some sleight of hand and misdirection in an attempt to divert attention away from the loathsome policy of unfiltered internet access on computers in publicly funded libraries.

The report identified five steps that might be taken to ensure children are not viewing pornography, but banning pornographic sites from library computers was not among those steps.

The steps include:

• Permanently attached privacy screens on all computers.


• Filters on children's computers to allow limited access to Internet sites.


• A change of location for adult computers so they are not in the direct path of travel for children.


• Public signs informing people of unfiltered computers in use.


• A requirement that any adult wishing to use a children's computer first receive permission from library staff.

Fortunately, Antonovich saw through the ruse and has asked for more.

Antonovich and his staff believe Todd's recommendations are not enough.

"We appreciate the work she's done. Furthermore, it does not behoove the taxpayer or library staff to go to such an extent to preserve the computers for porn users in a public place. We feel the most expeditious, fair, solution is to eliminate (pornography) altogether."

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