Libraries take different approaches to handling the viewing of pornography on library computers, responsive to circumstances and their own communities. Federal law has been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court that allows libraries to try to filter out child pornography, obscenity, and as to material viewed by children, material deemed "harmful to minors."
When it comes to child pornography, however, libraries should report both patrons and websites found on library computers.
The Congressional Research Service report on federal law and cases concerning child pornography is available at http://wikileaks.org/wiki/CRS-95-406.
It gives background to the current law which has been amended several times, including by the PROTECT Act which prohibits any “digital image, computer image, or computer-generated image that is, or is indistinguishable from, that of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct,” even if no actual minor was used to produce the image.
It is a crime to knowingly receive or distribute child pornography, or to knowingly possess or access with intent to view “any book, magazine, periodical, film, videotape, computer disk, or any other material that contains an image of child pornography..."
If a library sees a patron looking at child porn, it should be reported to the police.
More: http://blog.librarylaw.com/librarylaw/child_pornography_obscenity_and_harmful_to_minors/
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