children accessing porn; adults turning off filterware

[Thomas W. Perrin]

Supposing the library was 
a public library
limited to electronic collections
	including video
                  audio
                  cd-rom
                  games
offered full internet access to its patrons but
                  selected sites for its child patrons
permitted full internet/library access to all of its collections
                  for those under 18 with parental consent
was open 24 hours a day 365 days a year

and funding was not a problem.

What would your argument be then?

Tom Perrin







Burt, David wrote:
>
> The only reason libraries don't carry everything, including "Hustler" is
> because of limited budgets.  Because there is no added cost to each
> additional Internet resource, there is no reason not to carry every
> resource.
> This argument contains three errors.  First, the argument assumes that
> use of the Internet is an unlimited resource. Use of the Internet in a
> public library is a finite resource.  Just as a library only has so > many
> books, a library only has so many blocks of Internet time to allocate > to
> its patrons.  Second, the argument assumes that there is no > > > opportunity
> cost to including each additional resource.  The opportunity cost of > > one
> person looking at pornography is that someone else can't do their
> homework, or look up a sports statistic.  What librarians need to > > think
> about here is what's an appropriate use of scarce resources.  Third, > > the
> argument ignores the issue of appropriateness.  It is not simply for
> economic reasons that libraries do not collect everything.  Public
> libraries don't carry Hustler or Deep Throat.  This isn't because of
> economics, it's because it isn't considered appropriate.
> 
>   ***********************************************************
>           David Burt, Information Technology Librarian
>           The Lake Oswego Public Library
>           706 Fourth Street, Lake Oswego, OR 97034
>