Dublin library staff may boycott the free Internet service because some members of the public are using it to visit pornographic sites. IMPACT official Mr Brian Gorman said yesterday staff had "welcomed the introduction of free Internet access in Dublin libraries", but it needed to be better monitored and supervised if problems were to be avoided.
"It's a great service and we want to see it thrive," he said, "but with over 70,000 people, including children, using the service it is vital to ensure that staff and library users are protected from porn and other unacceptable material. There needs to be better monitoring and supervision of the service and all available technical filters should be installed as a matter of course."
There had been a small but growing number of incidents where staff and library users were subjected to unacceptable images and texts. "We don't want to see disruption to the service. But library staff won't accept a situation where people are subjected to offensive material by a small minority of users," he said.
A spokesman for the corporation said there had been recent publicity about inappropriate use of the service in Raheny, but of 4,843 sessions logged between July 2000 and January 2001 on only two occasions had there been what could be deemed inappropriate use. There was a fine line to be drawn between protecting people and providing free access to information for educational and other purposes.
A review of Internet usage was due to be completed this week, he said. The library authorities would then be looking at the introduction of varying levels of access for adults and children through a new Internet management system.
IMPACT is expected to endorse industrial action by members later this month if the dispute is not resolved.