THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, November 19, 1994 TAG: 9411190424
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LEESBURG, VA. LENGTH: Medium: 64 lines
The Loudoun County Library Board has voted to let parents monitor what books their children borrow until they turn 17 years old.
Under the new policy, which takes effect Jan. 1, parents will be able to see only the titles of books that their children currently have checked out. After a book has been returned, the system does not keep a record of who borrowed it.
The Library Board had voted in September to open children's records to their parents but waited until this week to decide what ages would be affected.
Board members who voted for the measures said parents have a right to know what their children are reading, and deserve full cooperation from librarians.
``Philosophically, we just don't think that it's the business of government to be driving a wedge between the parent and the child,'' said Loudoun Library Board Chairman Dennis Pierce, a leader of a conservative faction that recently gained a majority on the panel.
In Fairfax County, officials recently decided to open the records of children 12 and younger to their parents.
Civil libertarians and library advocates said the Fairfax and Loudoun policies will breach the historic trust between libraries and readers, and discourage juvenile patrons from borrowing certain books. Loudoun's age limit of 17 may be unprecedented, librarians said.
Anne Penway, assistant director of the American Library Association's intellectual freedom office, said she had never heard of such a policy applying to teenagers.
``I think it sends exactly the wrong message to the young library users of Loudoun County: `When it comes to reading and gathering information, we're keeping an eye on you,' '' Penway said.
In Fairfax, officials said the 12-and-younger rule was a compromise between library board members who wanted an open-records policy for children up to age 18 and members uneasy about encroaching on the privacy of teenagers.
Conservative and Christian activists said they will continue to press for a rule that covers all minors.
Karen Jo Gounaud, a Springfield homemaker who has led efforts to change library policies involving children, compared library records to school records, saying parents would protest bitterly if they were denied the right to see academic transcripts.
Christina Mollo and Christine Richardson, 14-year-olds who were doing research on planets this week in Loudoun's Eastern Regional Library, said they had used the library to get information about AIDS. They said they had heard about the disease on television but felt uncomfortable discussing it at home.
Christina later shared her research with her mother and father; Christine did not. Both said they would not have used the library if they thought their parents could find out.
``You might not feel comfortable talking to parents about stuff,'' Christine said.
``Your parents would think you're up to something if you asked them about it.'' by CNB