Now, that’s evil.
Must be the flipside of the librarian=sexy meme. Og alone knows what goes on the the turgid brain of the perv…
Are you implying that Og is a perv?
When I was a grad student, and the stacks were still open in the grad library, indecent exposure was pretty normal in the quieter reaches of the library, and I wouldn’t be surprised to hear about rapes or attempted rapes. At that time, the “in case of fire” equipment was readily available, and one fellow went wacky and went after a woman with an axe. (I believe she got away). After that, women going into the stacks to get books or to study were issued whistles, and the fire fighting equipment like axes were locked behind glass doors. Eventually, the stacks were closed to the public.
That was the grimmest incident. There were also sad but funny things, like someone from the halfway house down the street, going in, opening up books, dropping trow and defecting in the book, then closing it and replacing it on the shelf. Must have been a literary critic in the making.
I’m not a librarian, but I’m a baker who works in a library cafe. The library has a security force, and city cops moonlight there(in uniform). We’re right in the middle of town, on a bus route, heated in winter and cool in summer.
Homeless are not a novelty, and most are fairly harmless. Eccentric, yes, scruffy, certainly. But there was the one guy who passed out, from drinking generic mouthwash. He soiled the chair he was lolling in.
Problems are more with teenagers who just hang out. Loud, noisy, trying to find a place to make out, ugh!
As for the computers, they are not filtered, but viewing porn is not allowed. There are a good number of computers, but never enough, and the library does not feel obligated to help folks get off on their perversions, when someone might need the computer for something needful, like scanning job sites, or even research! Security is equipped with the ability to “see over your shoulder”, so using one out of the way won’t help, because there’s always a camera on you. I was on a computer once, when the guy next to me was approached by Security and escorted out of the library. He said “I’m just doing my taxes” but he didn’t realize that the porn sites he’d been viewing were equally visible to Security. And I once reported two teenage boys who were viewing porn. I walked by a bank of computers, and saw their screen, with a naked woman facing the camera, her legs spread wide.
Geez, get your own computer, I don’t pay taxes for you to visit ugly websites like that!
Our university library has explicitly refused to adopt any policies against viewing pornography, or any other **legal **material, on library computers. The rationale is that this is a research institution, and that people might have perfectly valid reasons for looking at material that others might find offensive. If someone were busted actually masturbating, though, they would find themselves in trouble.
I think this is a good policy, although i must admit that, even if i were doing the type of work that required me to look at porn for legitimate research reasons, i’d probably still restrict such research to my home computer rather than do it in front of everyone in the library.
Basically, i like that there are no restrictions, but i also think that people should show some discretion regarding what websites they visit when in full view of other library patrons.
That’s pretty much why they refuse to block porn sites. But we have several other computer labs on campus which are not accessable to the general public and can be used for the extremely seldom classes that require that sort of thing.
If you live on campus, you have access in your room. Get a computer and get off in private.
im in ur chair crappin ur books
You should have told them that was silly. Every time the books were stolen, you’d have to replace them…thereby putting money in the pockets of their authors!
The only problem I know of in our library is that some people seem to regard it as a free babysitting service. There are always unsupervised brats playing tag or hide and go seek in the stacks.
The up-side of being arrested/questioned by police in a library is you’d certainly be able to research your rights.
“Give me a minute while I look up my rights on that subject”
NO That’s enough, come with me.
Our library system is always having trouble in the two largest branches. We have a full-time security guard at the downtown branch. We have trouble with internet patrons (looking at porn, trying to scam extra computer time, etc.), homeless people (mainly sleeping or being truly excessively aromatic), drug users (overdoses in the bathrooms, mainly), and the occassional pervert, pedophile, or physically aggressive patron. Telling people to shush is probably the least of our problems.
Actually, reading it again, it sounds much worse than the reality. Most of the time the library operates without any problems at all. It’s just that when there is a problem, it’s often a doozy. My favourite “problem patron” was the woman who was convinced that Queen Elizabeth was her mother, so she would write “corrections” in all of our British royalty books, and add herself to all the family trees!
As a total hijack, this proves to me that I would never be able to survive among the homeless. To be able to masturbate with one hand while slashing and parrying with the other would be beyond me. I guess the action would be similiar to someone pretending to ride a wooden hobby horse while slapping their own ass after reading a book…?
(Yippee-Ki-Yay, Wuther-fuk?)
How the hell would they turn the pages then anyway?
What kind of birdbrain doesn’t know that the library is a public area? I can’t imagine that any reasonable adult would need to be warned about that. Normal people view their porn at home. Creepy pervs get a thrill out of viewing their porn in a public place.
Oh, I am so going to have to pass this on the the librarians where I work! Hmm, depending on whether she thought she was older or younger than Anne, she would be either ninth or twelfth in line for the throne! 
You must be confusing them with a Congressman :o
Congressmen masturbate with one hand while swinging knives with the other? The procession to their seats at the start of the State of the Union must be one heck of a show (even before the chimp starts flinging poo).
I’d check with Ultraviolet to see if this patron smelled like they’d wait 9 or 12 places in line for the throne when there was a perfectly good chair available to soil. :eek:
Correction: Congressmen masturbate with the off-hand while swinging broken liquor bottles in their strong hand.
And believe me, the day is coming when the exact kind of liquor bottle is going to be a serious campaign issue!
Point of order!
Emptied broken liquor bottles.
No Congresscritter would fail to drink the laaaaast drop.
Because it’s a public place? Because not everyone appreciates looking at porn?
And before anyone bring it up, it’s something to be ashamed of-just that it’s private. Private != Shameful.
Besides, from what I understand, some porn sites are teaming with computer viruses and spyware-I’m sure the tech staff LOVE dealing with that!
Saddly enough, the local downtown Library has its share of homeless folk who come in to get out of the cold, wet, hot.
Their policy is “you must be reading a book” (most of these types do not generally use the computers)…
So librarian walks up to person slumped over a randomly drawn book… “What are you reading?”… If the person can not answer security is called…
Regards
FML