Molinari's response to my letter in the NY Times

[KAREN SCHNEIDER]

Just a quick note that today's NY Times has a response to my
letter on filters; the response is  from Staten Island borough
president Guy Molinari.  My letter, on the 24th, warned that filters
that prevent access to their site lists are "unacceptable," and noted
that Molinari was reportedly pressuring NYPL to use them. 
Molinari, in the 4/30 Times, says he has a responsibility to protect
folks from porn.  He completely bypasses my argument that
"responsible adults have a right to this information."  

I will respond to this letter (tonight, from my home address), but it
would be nice if someone else  in the "if you use filters, use them
responsibly" camp could send a letter to editor at nytimes.com.  

Y'all should know what I think--I'm not crazy about filters, but I
sense many libraries feel compelled to at least explore their use,
and if libraries use filters that have viewable, editable site lists, at
least they haven't outsourced their selection to private entities
with unknown agendas.  It would be a tragedy to see a system as
big as NYPL forced to use a tool such as Cyber Patrol.  (Hmmm....
as I write that it occurs to me, given the typical New Yorker,  it
might be the best thing in the world.  ;-)  )

fyi,  I am now writing a book on filters (short, due out quickly) and
organizing a filter assessment project (next phase, due out
tonight--I worked on the email on the train in today).  

Why didn't we go into an easy profession--such as neurosurgery
or air traffic control?  ;-)

Karen G. Schneider/schneider.karen at epamail.epa.gov
Contractor, GCI/Director, US EPA Region 2 Library
http://www.epa.gov/Region2/library/