Filters/Cybersitter

[Gilbert, Richard A]

At 11:41 AM 4/24/97 -0700, Ronnie Morgan <rmorgan at Harding.edu> wrote:

>As for the censorship issue, I don't believe this is "censorship".  All
>libraries have a collection development policy (if not, they should),
>because a library can not obtain EVERY book and EVERY journal that is
>available.  They have to pick out what is best for thier community, school,
>etc...  Filter programs are nothing more than collection development tools.
 >And if filter programs are unconstitutional, then collection
development
>policies are as well...

Providing access to all of the Internet is not a financial decision, as
it is with providing access to books, periodicals, etc.  With an
Internet connection, a computer and a simple browser, all of the
information on the Internet IS available in the library.  A library does
have the responsibility to select the best sites and provide easy access
to them.  This is where a selection policy or a collection development
policy comes in.  Home pages incorporating selected sites on the Web,
indexes to Web resources, and other techniques used by various libraries
are the result of their selection decisions.  All other sites should be
presented with the warning "Let the Viewer beware."  
	A filter program blocks access to sites that are determined by a people
outside of the public library.  This prevents a librarian form making
any selection decisions on the blocked web pages.  By using a filter
program (at least as they exist now) librarians are allowing a
corporation to perform their Internet collection development.  This is a
dangerous position as the libraries are depending on the company having
the library customer's interests at heart rather than on the company's
profits. 
	Turning Internet collection development over to an outside company may
even turn out to be illegal.  In Hawaii, the state recently overturned a
decision to let a company perform collection development for Hawaii's
public libraries.  It is now illegal for anyone outside of the library
to determine what books will be bought.

>When my kids are old enough to do things on the computer, I most likely will
>choose Cyber Patrol as a filter program.

As a parent, this is your decision to make, and it will probably be mine
as well.  However, I do not want you or anyone else deciding for me and
my child which Web pages we are allowed to access in a public library.
I would not let my child have unsupervised access to the Web until they
were of an age where I could trust them.  If my child did disobey me,
and access the Web unsupervised, that issue would be between my child
and myself.  Libraries are not baby-sitters and I do not give my
parental rights over to them when I walk through the door.  If a child
misbehaves in a library or other public facility, it is the parent's
responsibility to deal with the child.

>This isn't like a book burning where the books being burned were the only
>copies available in the city, county, state, or whatever.  You can go home,
>use your PC to log onto the Internet, and view ANYTHING you want.  And
>because of this, I do not see how my right to access is being affected

Many people who access the Internet from a public library do not even
have a personal computer at home, much less access to the Internet.  For
people like these, the right to access materials on the Internet IS
affected by decisions that a public library makes. 

__________________________________________________________
Richard Gilbert				ragilbert at ems.jsc.nasa.gov
Avionics Systems Division Librarian
Johnson Space Center

*Opinions expressed are my own, of course!
__________________________________________________________