A person’s right to use a library should not be denied to or abridged because of origin, age, background, or views. — Article V of the Library Bill of Rights
First, let me introduce myself demographically. I’m chronologically gifted. In other words, I’m older than rock and roll, and I began working as a public librarian in the 1970s. At that time, the cutting wave of censorship for the protection of innocent children from the degrading influence of the contents of the public library was to paint underpants on Mickey In the Night Kitchen with Wite-out®.
But that was then, and this is now. Now we have the Internet. Now kids can play games on the computer. And, as many in my demographic cohort express themselves, “THIS IS A LIBRARY, not a fun house for kids! Others are here to do important things on a computer!” (Remember if anyone is having fun it means they cannot be learning. If it’s educational it must be tedious and boring.)
To avoid this generational turmoil many libraries have installed a game room, complete with videogames. It’s as big a draw as afterschool snacks. Which brings me to the main topic of this post. Do age-segregated areas in the library violate Article V of the Library Bill of Rights?
Some libraries set aside computers for children, complete with child-size furniture to ensure that children have access to computers and don’t just get shunted aside by larger people. To me, this not a case of access being restricted that conflicts with Access to Library Resources and Services to Minors, because it’s designed to ensure that access. For its Children’s area, The Seattle Public Library has a laudable statement of this practice on its website:
PURPOSE
Children’s areas within Library facilities are special parts of the Library housing special collections, programs and services designed especially for children. The purpose of the Children’s areas in Seattle Public Libraries is therefore to provide children and their caregivers with access to these special children’s materials, programs and services.
POLICY
Children’s departments are available for use by those patrons who are accessing the special materials contained in the children’s collection and for use by children and their caregivers, to attend children’s programs, and to utilize other services provided by children’s departments. Patrons not included in these categories may be required to leave the children’s department and instead use other areas of the Library.
However, over the years at various libraries, I’ve encountered adult customers who don’t agree. Often, as mentioned above, they have important things to do on the computers and they aren’t any free in the adult area, or the ones in the children’s area are more convenient for them for other reasons.
- What do you think about this line of reasoning, and how do you handle this in your library?
The next questions may be even stickier, or more problematic. The following was designed to remediate the problem of overcrowding in the game room with only a limited number of screens and game controllers.
- How does it fit with the Access to Library Resources and Services to Minors? Especially the part that reads, “Children and young adults unquestionably possess First Amendment rights, including the right to receive information through the library in print, sound, images, data, games, software, and other formats.”
- Would you adopt a policy like this? If not, what do you, or would you, have as a policy?
And for extra credit consider these questions:
- What do you say to the eleven-year-old that wants to play Grand Theft Auto V?
- Would you, or have you, selected Grand Theft Auto V for your collection?
Your comments are invited.
Carol Leeson
This is a question that we have also been struggling with. We recently had a “refresh” of our Youth Services Room. The room serves patrons from birth through 8th grade and their caregivers. Part of the refresh included a new Early Literacy area with a special “Baby Book Nook.” The Nook has a padded structure that allows babies to crawl, cruise and sit in a safe environment. We have asked that older children use other parts of the area. We have explained that because babies tend to put things into their mouths, including their hands, we wish to keep the area free from mud and slush tracked in on “walker’s” shoes. That the structure is not designed and may be damaged by climbing, jumping and sitting on by children above the age of two. The refresh also added new furniture designed for preschool children and students. We also added new Technology centers for both age groups. Some of our parents are offended by the fact that we do not allow their older preschoolers or school age students. So I guess we are asking the same question. Is it appropriate to indicate special areas for particular ages or developmental stages? I will point out that we are delighted when we see a 4 year old playing peek-a-boo with his 11 month old sibling in the nook. Or when we see a 10 year old helping their 3 year old sibling develop literacy skills at our Alphabet table. Our only concern is when a child or student presents a safety or health concern to the primary users of a given area.
Suz
We have 4 computer areas in our library. On the main floor there are areas for teens and adults. Upstairs is entirely devoted to children’s services, and there is a section of computers designated for “6-12 year olds” and way over on the other side of the Children’s Library there are a couple of computers with digital storybooks installed and nothing else (intended for preschoolers). Generally, this seems to work pretty well. Adults and teens seem to realize pretty quickly that they don’t belong here and head back downstairs.
One issue that we often run into is that parents want to use the computers designated for kids. We try to allow this when there are “legitimate” purposes, but we have run into the issue of parents cruising Facebook and ignoring their kids, who then wreck havoc. We do try to be flexible whenever we can.
The bigger problem is with age limitations in programs. We are now running programs with LEGO Mindstorms and some parents are quite put out that we limit it to 10-14 year olds.
Kelly Doolittle
One thing we did at TCPL was to add 2 parent computers at the end of our table that has our Early Learning computers on it (and they happen to be right next to the play area) which took care of the parents wanting to use the kids computers. It also helped with parents who plopped their kids down next to them and proceeded to ignore them in the adult computer section. What it doesn’t help is the parents who then ignored their kids as they played (or got into other mischief…) because they were absorbed in their computer. This was an occasional issue before anyway, so we do have time limits on our computer use. Of course, that doesn’t help the caregivers who have their own devices to log onto. We do try to keep an eye on folks and if they’ve been ignoring their kids for over an hour, it’s time to talk to them about it. Not fun, but it usually works.
This is one of the hard things about our jobs, for sure! There is so much joy, though, I try to keep that in mind when struggling with the neglect issue.
The original post has created some good side topics! Thank you, and sign me also, Chronologically Gifted! Love it…