It’s been a busy battle for Snoqualmie parent Meg Barlament since her daughter, Alyx, and friend Ann unintentionally saw pornographic images on a public computer screen at the Snoqualmie Library in early January.
Since the story was first published on January 6th, Meg and the girls have told their story on Q13 Fox News, King 5 News, the Dori Motson Show on KIRO radio and the John Carlson Show on KVI radio.
Barlament says the two 6th graders were in a study room at the Snoqualmie Library when a patron just outside the study room glass window was watching pornography on a public library computer.
Patrons can ask to have library computer filters removed in order to view pornography as long as it is not illegal child pornography. The girls told the librarian and were told the man was doing nothing wrong – as long as it wasn’t a child on the screen.
The King County Library System says viewing such images is protected by the 1st amendment and in line with its mission “to provide free, open and equal access to ideas and information to all members of the community.” They added that pornography is also subjective, with different definitions for different people.
Since this eye-opening experience, parent Meg Barlament and the girls have been busy trying to figure out a way to keep sexually explicit images out of the eyesight of young kids at King County libraries.
Tomorrow, January 28th, Meg and fellow parent Michelle Kauffman will address the King County Library Board at their meeting at the King County Building located at 960 Newport Way in Issaquah.
Ann and Alyx will read a letter to library board about their experience and their moms will also speak. The public is invited to join their efforts. More info is available here HERE.
Meg and Michelle also created a petition asking the King County Library Board to change their policy pertaining to internet filtering, stating “policy should disallow the removal of the Internet filter when requested by an adult library patron wishing to access usually blocked material.”
You can view the full petition and sign HERE.
So far Meg, Michelle and their Facebook group, Stop Pornography in the Snoqualmie Library and all Public Places, have gathered over 500 petition signatures and plan to present them at the Library Board meeting in Issaquah on Wednesday, January 28th.
