I work as a assistant children's librarian. It would not work for permission slips to be signed by parents/young adults. In our childrens room, some internet sites are blocked, but in the whole rest of the library the computers are not blocked. People can pull up anything on the internet and do. We do not have any sort of a ban as to what books can be checked out on anyone's card. A young adult can check out a book that is meant for an adult. Those parents are not being realistic. There isn't enough staff to monitor these sorts of things. Libraries are operating on a very tight budget these days as do most businesses.

What I am saying is that a library card can be used to check out anything in the library. There are many questionable books and movies and parents have to monitor their family. Try doing a search under the heading "erotica" at your library and see what comes up. You'd be surprised, and that is just one word search, if you know what mean. There are others.

We are not a babysitting service although some people think so. I've had children as young as 2 come into the large childrens room unattended. We find the parents and they are warned that you have to be at least 9 to be unattended. A library is a very public building. We get more than our share of weirdos that you would not want your children exposed to.

Parents do not think. The library seems like a very safe place but we can not be everywhere. We had a man "having fun all by himself" at a computer last week in the adult area. I am on library groups where we share ideas for programming and such. Kids are grabbed by strangers in libraries and molested -- and it happens more than you think. People try to have sex in the restrooms, or quiet corners. Don't let your children go to the restroom unattended either.

I love my job and I work in a wonderful library. I very much enjoy helping a child find just the right book or how to find something on the computer. However, I am not the child's parent and every family has different rules for their children. I am truely shocked at how some parents do not watch or monitor their children. We had over 2100 people come thru the library on Monday, and over 2400 on Wednesday. We can't be every place and watching everything that happens. With the economy being so bad, our numbers are up more than ever. The library is the best deal in town.

We have tornado warning sirens going off. I hope this post makes sense. I'm sitting in the basement typing. :-) Near 2 litter boxes. Yippee.

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Donna