MN Libraries Sue Over Cyberporn

"We were living in hell, and they were unwilling to acknowledge the problem," say a dozen librarians suing Minneapolis's library system, after they claimed to be exposed to cyberporn in a downtown library.

The twelve sued in federal court accusing the system of tolerating "an intimidating, hostile, and offensive workplace that violate(s) state and federal law," according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. They're seeking $400,000 in damages and workplace changes, but one librarian told the paper they're still willing to negotiate the dispute with the library system.

"It's been three years," said Wendy Adamson, who told the Star-Tribune the librarians first filed discrimination charges in the matter in 2000. "We would have sat down with the library at any time during those three years, and they wouldn't do it."

The Star-Tribune said the cyberporn issue cropped up almost immediately after Minneapolis libraries got Internet access in 1997, with screens showing "virtually every imaginable kind of human sexual conduct" almost at once, according to the librarians. The newspaper also says the library system has had sizeable enough turnover since the original complaints were filed, with half the library board replaced and a director the librarians claimed refused to crack down on computer abuse.