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Patron Abuse Prompts Trial of Social-Network FilteringOne branch of the 18-facility Kent District Library system, which serves greater Grand Rapids, Michigan, began blocking access July 23 to the popular social-networking sites MySpace, Facebook, and Bebo on 34 of its 40 workstations. The six unfiltered machines face the reference desk, and so facilitate adult supervision of online users, including a number of alleged gang members who, police claim, have been using the social-networking sites as a means to intimidate rivals. Asserting that the library has become part of a gang “turf war,” KDL board member Vickie Hoekstra said in the July 28 Grand Rapids Press, “It’s not the family atmosphere that we’re so protective of.” Approved by trustees May 18 in a 5–2 vote, the six-month trial is part of a stepped-up effort to address increasingly disruptive behavior at the Wyoming branch, some of which seems to be gang-related, KDL Director Martha Smart told American Libraries. Between January and June, police have investigated eight cases of vandalism and 15 complaints of disorderly conduct there, including the spraying of gang graffiti in bathrooms and destruction of library tables. Branch employees have had their cars scratched up with keys while the vehicles were in the parking lot, she said. Although Wyoming officials requested that the library ban the social-networking sites from branch computers, Smart said that board members refused on intellectual freedom grounds. Noting that MySpace is the “third- most-used website on the internet,” Smart declared that social networks are “the way that our society is now communicating and collaborating together” and that libraries need to be a part of that. Staff plan to track the number of disruptive incidents over the next six months to determine the impact of supervised access on patron behavior. Ironically, KDL implemented a low-tech deterrent in late May that Smart characterized as having already effected “very positive changes” at the Wyoming branch: the hiring of a security guard. Posted on August 6, 2007. |
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