Boston situation -Reply

[Sheryl Dwinell]

I don't want to be lumped into the 'censorship' camp because I support
unrestricted access to any material on the Internet.  However, when it
comes to children, it becomes fuzzier for me.  On the one hand, I agree
with Chuck Munson that children should be free to gather information for
whatever purpose.  He makes a very compelling case for a young person who
is questioning their sexuality. I agree that they need some outlet to get
information that may be withheld from them by parents who are very
restrictive.  I think that if parents are worried about what their children
might read, they should accompany them to the library.  But, I also think
that some common sense should enter into the equation. I think this
hardline anti-censorship, "access to all information to everyone" attitude
can certainly win us enemies who might have some influence over library
boards or budgets, particularly when it comes to children.  I have a hard
time with the idea of complete access to  everything on the net when it
comes to very young children.  No, I don't think we need to babysit them,
but don't we have some sort of responsibility as members of our community
to at least be concerned for the children in our midst?  I think parents
would like to think that librarians are at least partners in making the
library a safe environment for their children.  Is that really too much to
ask? I don't think that necessarily means the use of blocking software (I
think it's inappropriate in a library setting), but shouldn't we at least
let parents in our communities know that we believe in freedom of
information AND we do care about what children see & read and can serve in
some capacity to assist parents in making information choices for children.
 I think we can express our belief in free expression & freedom of
information without sounding so strident and giving the impression that we
don't give a damn about the children in our communities.  Obviously, we
won't please everyone, no library ever does.  I wish I knew the answers,
but I don't. I think like most new technologies that come along, we'll just
have to suffer through a lot of growing pains before coming to a workable
solution without compromising our professional standards.







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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
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