Parents best guide on library choices

Should libraries place lending restrictions on movies and other materials for children and teens?

Cook Memorial Public Library District officials, who have discussed this issue more than once before, are addressing it again.

They are not alone. Many other suburban libraries have taken on this matter only to emerge with divergent conclusions. Some libraries, like Libertyville- and Vernon Hills-based Cook Memorial, have no restrictive policy in place. Some do not lend movies to minors. Others allow younger patrons to check out R-rated movies or adult-themed television shows only with parental permission.

Generally speaking, professional librarians tend to favor few restrictions. Their mission, after all, focuses largely on ensuring a free flow of information and broadening access as much as possible.

Some library board members, including Ann Oakley of the Cook Memorial board, think libraries should take a more active role in seeing that children check out only age-appropriate material, or, at least, that parents give permission before younger children borrow mature-theme materials. Oakley favors a policy that would make certain videos available to younger users only with explicit permission from a parent.

In a sense, Oakley's idea is consistent with the Motion Picture Association of America voluntary rating system that most theaters enforce. Which means that theaters generally keep at least 14- and 15-year-olds out of R-rated movies unless they're accompanied by an adult. The rating system is useful to parents, who may agree or disagree with where the lines are drawn but are sufficiently familiar with the rating system to make decisions accordingly.

But a library's role and function differ from a theater's. Libraries are not businesses that make money from showing films and therefore have a related responsibility to enforce guidelines. They are, rather, a public institution responsible for making information available.

Young people's library borrowing decisions -- on books, videos and other materials -- are best guided by their parents. Oakley's idea, placing certain videos off limits without parental approval, is one way to foster that. Better though, we think, is a policy that makes all materials available for borrowing unless parents state specifically that they do not want their children to check out certain items. Libraries can ask parents their preference when children first obtain a library card, which can be coded accordingly. In other words, put the question in front of parents, but with a default position of making material available rather than restricting it. That, it seems to us, is the best way to give parents a useful tool while maintaining libraries' mission of accessibility.