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Harford County Public
Library’s mission is to provide responsive services
to the community through equal access to library resources
that enrich the quality of life and support and encourage
life-long learning. As part of this mission, the library
offers Internet access to individuals of all ages. In
addition, the library organizes, catalogs, and indexes
a variety of information which it provides through connections
to Internet services, web sites, and commercial databases.
The library affirms
the rights of its patrons to access constitutionally
protected materials. However, unauthorized or illegal
use of Harford County Public Library’s computing
systems and facilities may result in revocation of Internet
use privileges, general library privileges, and/or constitute
grounds for civil or criminal prosecution.
The library is required
by a new state law to prohibit Internet access by minors
to obscenity or child pornography:
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FOR
the purpose of requiring each county or board of
trustees of a county library to adopt and implement
policies and procedures for preventing a minor from
obtaining access through the library to obscene
materials or to child pornography by means of the
Internet or certain other interactive computer services;
requiring the State Superintendent to regularly
monitor county libraries to determine that they
are complying with policies and procedures adopted
under this Act; defining certain terms; and generally
relating to Internet access by minors to obscene
materials through a county library. |
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SECTION
1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF MARYLAND,
That the Laws of Maryland read as follows: |
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SENATE
BILL 522
Article – Education |
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23-506.1.
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(A)
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(1) In this
section the following words have the meanings indicated.
(2) "Obscene" has the meaning provided in Article
27, § 419 of the Code.
(3) "Child pornography" has the meaning provided
in Article 27, § 419a of the Code.
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(B)
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On or before
January 1, 2001, each county or board of trustees
of a county library shall:
(1) adopt and implement policies and procedures
to prevent minors from obtaining access through
the library, by means of the internet, the World
Wide Web, Usenet, or any other interactive computer
service to materials that are obscene or constitute
child pornography; and
(2) submit the policies and procedures required
under this section to the state superintendent for
review. The State Superintendent or a designee of
the State Superintendent shall regularly monitor
the county libraries to determine whether each library
is complying with the policies and procedures adopted
for preventing a minor from obtaining internet access
to obscene materials through the library. |
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SECTION
2. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That this Act shall
take effect January 1, 2001. |
In
order to implement that law, the following actions are
prohibited:
- Sending, receiving, or displaying
inappropriate materials, defined as text or graphics,
which may be reasonably construed as obscene or constitute
child pornography (as specified in Article 27, Sections
419 and 419A of the Maryland Annotated Code).
- Engaging in any activity which facilitates
sending, receiving or displaying inappropriate materials
to a minor.
In furtherance of the
new state law, Harford County Public Library uses a
filtering service on all public access computers in
each branch in order to ensure that it prevents a minor
from obtaining access through the library to obscene
materials or to child pornography by means of the Internet.
This service disables
access to certain sites, all chat lines, and e-mail
capabilities at these computers. Upon patron request,
library staff may unblock a site. However, the library
reserves the right to deny the request if the materials
the patron seeks to access appear to violate the state
law. The librarian in charge shall review the
librarian’s decision regarding the unblocking of
a site and the librarian in charge shall notify the
patron of the decision within 30 minutes of their request.
The following actions
are prohibited:
- Making any attempt to access chat
lines or rooms.
- Making changes to the set up or
configuration of the software or hardware of the library’s
public access computers.
- Using unauthorized copies of copyrighted
or licensed software or data.
- Loading or downloading software
from the Internet or using personal software programs
on the library’s computers. In order to
prevent computer viruses, patrons may only download
data to clean disks that are available for purchase
at the circulation desk.
- Making any attempt to modify, gain
access to files, passwords or data belonging to others;
seeking unauthorized access to the library’s
or any other computer system, or damaging or altering
software components of any network or database.
- Installing or running any streaming
video or live audio programs from the Internet as
these put an undue burden on the communications network.
The library reserves the right to schedule
time on all full Internet access computers. Users may
be asked to present a current Harford County Public
Library card or some other form of identification at
that time. The computers may be used for 30 minutes
at a time or longer if no one else is waiting.
To ensure the equitable
delivery of all library services, the amount of time
that Reference staff has to provide Internet instruction
is limited. Classes in the use of the library’s
on-line resources are offered on a regular basis.
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