City council is asking the Ottawa Public Library Board to take another look at its policy concerning Internet access and the filtering of offensive material.

Last week the board voted to continue Internet filtering only in the children's sections of the library.

The motion rejected by the library board proposed putting library-wide filters that adults could turn off after entering their library-card number.

The majority of board members argued that such filters give parents a false sense of security, because filters aren't perfect. Filters can cut out legitimate Web sites, and still let in some pornographic ones.

Some people also worry that a card-swipe system would violate privacy. They say the card information would remain stored on a server, along with a record of the sites the user visited.

But Wednesday night city council voted to ask the board to revisit the filtering issue.

Council had to send a message, said Rick Chiarelli, a city councillor and chair of the library board.

Chiarelli says his office has received hundreds of e-mails protesting the library board's decision.

"I think the community found it intolerable that the library would turn down the opportunity to protect kids," Chiarelli said.

The councillor says there is technology available to provide "default protection for all kids" that wasn't available last year.