cyberfiltering: just say no

[Sheryl Dwinell]

When you look at the comments made by the far extreme on both sides of this
issue by the librarians on this list it really makes you wonder if any sort
of compromise can be reached.  For public libraries, I think it probably
will be the communities that decide. For those of us in academic libraries,
I think we'll probably escape this controversy (knock on wood) a relatively
unscathed because of the traditions of freedom of expression and thought
that are so valued at our institutions.  Working at a Jesuit Catholic
institution of higher learning I have been heartened to find that there
have been no outcries over the unrestricted access that we provide to our
students, faculty, and researchers.  When it comes to adults you have to
give them some credit for critical thinking and discerning for themselves
what they want to view.

I think that there has been so much hype over obscenity on the net that
it's hard to know what the real situation is out there.  If a couple of
teenage boys accessing a site with full frontal nudity catches the
attention of a politician in your community who then proceeds to vent his
anger in the media, suddenly your library has this perceived crisis of
untold proportions.  You'd think that every child entering the library is
sitting down at a Net station and madly searching for every nasty image
they can find out there. I believe that we should protect our children from
influences we think are detrimental.  That's a parents role.  If you've
raised your children with a strong moral and ethical grounding and you've
discussed all the nasty stuff they might encounter, they'll probably be
able to handle themselves quite well when confronted with it.  I know that
worked with my sister and I. But, I will concede that restricted access is
probably a good idea in the children's area.  I do think that we all have
some sort of obligation to protect the children in our communities.
Although I still think that protecting children from physical and emotional
abuse is much higher on my list than the nasty stuff they may stumble
across on the Net.  Also, where does violence fit into all this. Should we
also filter out FTP sites where they can download hard core violent games
like DOOM?  

On a lighter note, think of what a fun job it must be to work for the folks
who make CyberSitter and CyberPatrol. You get to surf the net for porn all
day. I wonder what that does to their psyches and emotional well-being.

 
Sheryl Dwinell
Cataloger/Database Management Librarian
Memorial Library, Marquette University
P.O. Box 3141
Milwaukee, WI 53201-3141
dwinells at vms.csd.mu.edu
414-288-3542