Boston controversy

[Steven Benson]

>If a truck pulled up to the back of your library and offered to give you
>tons of books free but some of them were ads, some self promotion
>and fabrications, and others pornography, would you take them in?
>From: Millard Johnson <zendog at incolsa.palni.edu>

I don't think that this analogy fits the situation.
"Taking them all in" is more akin to bookmarking ALL the Web sites.  Instead
we select some things from that truckload, while leaving the rest alone.
Your library may have chosen not to purchase Madonna's "Sex" but would you
tell a patron who wanted it via Interlibrary Loan that you wouldn't process
that request?

Dan Lester was right on when he said that censoring software doesn't work.
New objectionable sites will pop up faster that the software vendor can
modify their blocking list.  The software vendors won't tell you what is on
their list and won't necessarily notify the blocked sites that they are on
the list.  Sometimes an entire network is blocked because of a few
objectionable sites on the server.  Would you let Baker & Taylor (or any
outside company) have complete control over your book selections?  Back to
the analogy ... If that truckload had some classics along with the trash and
your choice was to reject the entire load or to select the classics while
leaving the rest of the load out back for anyone to rummage through if they
wanted, then what would you do?

An article at Internet Worlds web site titled "Who will watch the watchmen"
makes for interesting reading.  Find it at:

     http://www.internetworld.com/1996/11/surf.html#watchmen

The decision of what to do about pornography on the Internet accessable from
library computers isn't trivial or easy.  And politicians don't necessarily
make wise decisions. The public good isn't always at the top of their agenda.

What I find most distressing about the controversy at BPL is that the
decision seems to have been make without consulting library officials who
are certainly closer to the situation than the Mayor's Office.

Respectfully,






Steve Benson
Supervisor, Technical Services
Richardson Public Library   
Richardson, TX  75080
steve_benson at cor.gov
http://www.library.richardson.tx.us