Gary Daughtry's time at the public library isn't spent reading. Instead, it's Facebook.com time.

The 19-year-old Augusta State University student recently spent a morning scrolling through profiles of the social networking Web site. Mr. Daughtry said he uses it to catch up with friends back home in Screven County.

He is part of a group of local library patrons visiting sites such as Friendster.com, MySpace.com and Facebook.com that have grown recently, said Nancy Carver, the East Central Georgia Library System's director of information services.

"MySpace has made a big difference," she said.

But their seemingly innocuous visits to the Web site, which allows members to socialize online through photos and personal profiles, could be curbed at libraries in the name of protecting children from online predators.

In July, the U.S. House passed the Deleting Online Predators Act. The bill would require public libraries and schools receiving federal funds that pay for Internet access to block social networking Web sites. The Senate could take up the legislation this month.

Supporters say the bill will protect children from predators who use the online sites to lure victims.

Critics argue that the legislation would be ineffective and is driven by election-year politics.

U.S. Rep. John Barrow, D-Ga., who represents Augusta, voted for it.

"Schools and libraries are important points of access for kids in getting to the Internet, and we want to encourage that for educational purposes," Mr. Barrow said. "But we want to make sure that sexual perverts aren't using that as a way of getting at our kids.

"This strikes the right balance between allowing schools and libraries to provide access to the Internet so that kids learn while at the same time keeping them from falling under the spell of some sexual predator somewhere."

Leslie Burger, the president of the American Library Association and director of the Princeton Public Library in New Jersey, said the law is "unenforceable" and punishes those using the "big networking sites in a responsible manner."

The bill, which could apply to chat rooms and other Web sites that support communication, would eliminate a big reason why people such as Damian Neusbaum, 21, go to the library.

Mr. Neusbaum, who spent a recent afternoon toggling between a chat room and a music video, said he understands that sexual predators are a serious problem.

But he said he and people like him aren't doing anything wrong.

"It would bother me," he said of the bill being made law. "That's mainly what I go to."

Nevertheless, Ms. Carver said she doesn't think that the law will affect computer use at the library, which has increased by 50,000 in the past year. She said the users of social networking sites - a relatively new trend - will likely find something else online.

Reach Justin Boron at (706) 823-3215 or justin.boron@augustachronicle.com.