Censorship Needs: Real or Perceived?

[Sheryl Dwinell]

>It has been my observation that Internet censorship
>in libraries is the result of a *perception* on the part
>of librarians and administrators that inapproriate 
>materials will be viewed. It is my opinion that 
>recent attempts to limit Internet access to resources 
>is knee-jerk reaction to a *perceived* problem rather
>than an actual one.   

I would have to disagree a bit with this observation.  More often I see it
as the perception of those in the community (parents, politicians, media)
who believe that the Internet is strewn with pornography. I don't think it
has been librarians who've led the call for filtering, or who believe the
Net is full of objectionable material. Public librarians are the ones who
are stuck in a no-win situation, either defending freedom of information,
and appearing as though they are endorsing the right of children to view
hard core pornography, or installing filters to appease the community and
politicians who control the purse strings.  I would like to see librarians
in communities where this becomes an issue make as much noise to their
local media as they can and demonstrate how this issue has been completely
blown out of proportion.  From articles I've read online and in print, it
always seems to be a case of one parent who is outraged (who often get
their information anecdotally or purposely perform searches looking for
porn) who contacts local media or politicians and all hell breaks loose.
The media love to jump on stories like this and the pols love to win points
with the voters by appearing to be so concerned about protecting the morals
of the community. 

On a related note.  I've yet to read anything about a college or university
library installing filters.  Does anyone know of a case where this has
occurred?  I presume that since our base of users are almost all over the
age of 18, that this isn't much of an issue in academic libraries.

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