Trustees: Dunlap Library Director acted lawfully, policies followed in wake of photo-printing incident

DUNLAP, Ill. – The Dunlap Public Library’s Board of Trustees has put out a statement regarding their investigation into whether the library did the right thing after a patron could be seen printing what some described to be inappropriate pictures.

The board says employees reported behavior about a month ago that they felt was questionable — but was the printing by one person of so-called “head shots” of potentially young girls, as well as a photo of bicyclists wearing crop tops.

“Contrary to some public comment and rumor, the patron’s printing of pictures included only what has accurately been described as four ‘head shots’ of young girls on the internet, guessed to be from age as young as 7 to as old as 10, and a photo of a group of cyclists wearing cropped tops. There were no pornographic pictures and no nudity whatsoever in the printings,” the statement said.

The patron in question, the board says, had his privileges suspended for 60 days. Nevertheless, according to the statement, “Courts have consistently ruled that sex offenders have the same right to use of public libraries as other citizens.” It is not clear if the person in question is a registered sex offender.

They say despite media reports to the contrary, no employees were fired, and one was suspended for discussing private patron information outside the library.

The board also defends how Library Director Laura Keyes-Kaplafka has handled the situation, including reconfiguring open computer terminals and examining the placement of security cameras.

“The Board of Trustees of the Dunlap Public Library is not happy with the inaccurate, unfair, and untrue attacks upon the character of its Director circulating through the Internet,” the statement read.

CLICK HERE to read the full statement. (PDF document)

EDITOR’S NOTE:  While the name of the library patron who has had privileges suspended has been circulated in the public, because an employee was suspended for circulating confidential patron data as indicated in this story, we will not be revealing the name of the person.