By Matt Thacker
After an increase this summer of people using campus computers to look at pornography and other inappropriate material, the Ekstrom Library administration has attempted to limit the problem by moving all Internet-accessible computers to the first floor. “We moved the computers because it was getting to be too noisy, and people were using them for inappropriate purposes,” University of Louisville Dean of Libraries Hannelore Rader said. She said many students had requested the third and fourth floor be used as quiet study areas.Sophomore Chanel Twillie prefers having the option to study in quiet where the computers used to be located.”You don’t hear all the clicking and noise,” she said. “It makes it more like a library should be with a quiet study area.”Rader said that the library has always had problems with people using the computers to look at pornography, but it has worsened. She said the problem got very bad during the summer because the library is open to the public and many non-students use the computers.In one instance this summer, a 14-year-old girl reported someone had been looking at pornography on an upstairs computer, said David Horvath, head of media resources at the library. Horvath looked in the computer’s history files and found that the person, a U of L student, had been looking at child pornography. The student was later apprehended by university police.The issue doesn’t only come up during the summer though. Horvath said the library has received many requests from students to deal with the pornography issue. While graduate student, Bill LaCap, wishes the computers hadn’t been moved, he also didn’t like how people misused the computers last year.”Every time I walked by there, there [were] at least two people looking at porn,” he said.Horvath said moving the computers away from private and remote locations should discourage some people from looking at inappropriate Web sites. “We have found that centrally-located computers really cut down on problem,” he said.The third and fourth floor each had 12 computers last year. Now only two computers remain on both levels, and those can only be used for Minerva. The computers on the second floor will also be moved to the first floor which already has three areas where students have access to computers, including a lab on the newly constructed west end of the library.Not all students prefer the changes though. Buck Jacobs said it made more sense to have computers with Internet access on each floor.”You had the ability to print and look up information without having to go down two floors,” he said.Rader said they moved the computers to the first floor partially because the majority of the staff works there. Though the staff will not patrol the computer areas, they will respond to complaints about improper Internet usage. The computers have signs posted stating the computers are designated for research and prohibiting chatting and playing games.Horvath acknowledged that the problems will never completely go away but said the library will never resort to controlling which Web sites users can view.”We are opposed to systematically blocking any material,” he said.Rader said 25 more computers will be added to the first floor this week. She hopes the larger computer area will make it easier for students to research.”We want to make that really an area where you can go and get help,” she said. “It’s going to be a much better way of doings things.”
