Dr. Laura Strikes Again
Radio host takes library bashing to TV
Staff -- School Library Journal, 10/1/2000
Dr. Laura Schlessinger's opposition to the American Library Association's (ALA) stance against Internet filtering in public libraries and schools has been well publicized, due largely to her nationwide radio show. Now the outspoken talk-show host is taking her gripes about libraries to the small screen, with a new syndicated television show called Dr. Laura.
An episode called "Lewd Libraries" was scheduled to air on September 15. The episode, according to Rick Ashton, a Denver Public Library (DPL) librarian, features a 15-year-old girl with a hidden camera. The teenager is shown entering DPL, accessing an unsavory Web site, and then checking out an R-rated video.
Ashton says DPL was unaware of the footage until Robert Willard, executive director of the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science, and one of the guests on the "Lewd Libraries" segment, notified the library. "Robert saw [the footage] and called me," says Ashton, "and reported what he had seen and experienced."
Although DPL's computers do not run filtering software automatically, Ashton says that the kids' computers ask users to choose between unfiltered or filtered searching.
Ashton says that neither Dr. Laura's show nor the resulting media attention have made the library re-consider its Internet policy. "We always have our eyes open for better ways to do things," he says, "but we haven't heard of anyone doing better than we are with other programs."--Y. S. L.
