“ You may think the library is a kid friendly spot for borrowing books and movies. Gerry Veneto, parent “We count on libraries to protect our kids. That’s the one place that I would let them go.” But are the libraries acting responsibly when it comes to our children? 7News wanted to find out. ”
This quote nicely sums up the gap between what librarians and what many members of the public perceive to be the role of the library vis a vis protecting children. Any good children’s librarian will tell you (over and over again) that librarians are not babysitters or guardians and we don’t act in loco parentis. It’s up to parents to (a) watch their kids in the library and (b) be aware of what materials they are checking out. Yet some parents allow their very young children to roam free in the library with little to no supervision.
This trust is flattering but misplaced, first because librarians can’t know the cultural and idealogical norms of every family that uses the library to ensure that each child is checking out materials acceptable within their family. Certainly the better we know a patron the better advice we can give about what materials they might enjoy, but that does not obviate the responsibility of parents to be aware of what their children are reading. Secondly, libraries are public spaces and there simply aren’t enough librarians to watch every patron at every moment. We know from experience that this overly trusting attitute can lead to situations far worse than 11-year-olds borrowing R-rated movies.
