Censorship Needs: Real or Perceived?

[Burt, David]

Tim Mallory wrote:

> We may serve the elite, but they are logging in from home, and calling in
their >reference questions.  What's left?  A higher percentage of the
underclasses,
>comprising children, students of all ages, the poor (it's all relative)
>and the homeless.
> I think we have to get used to it.  With electronic access, the classy
>patrons (non-porn, non-chat, societally acceptable) can use their own
>pricey tools and apply their consciences to fund schools and libraries.

Wow.  Just when I thought everything there was to be said about
filtering in public libraries had been said, someone says something
significant.

An argument can be made that since an important part of public Internet
access is providing on-line services to the information poor, and if we
filter those resources, while the resources of the upper and middle
classes go unfiltered, that this constitutes discrimination and is
unethical.

That's a pretty powerful argument, (and not necessarily the one Tim was
making), but I still don't think it obligates librarians to become porn
providers, since we don't provide homeless men with copies of Hustler.
(That would certainly make for an interesting library service!)

Still, it is *very* important that we keep equity and fairness in the
provision of on-line resources in mind.  It appears we are having the
role of on-line info provider to the information poor thrust upon us,
and we can't turn away from that.  As Ronald Reagan said, "If not now,
when? If not us, who?"  Tax breaks for laptops certainly won't do the
job.

  ***********************************************************
          David Burt, Information Technology Librarian 
          The Lake Oswego Public Library 
          706 Fourth Street, Lake Oswego, OR 97034
          URL:          http://www.ci.oswego.or.us/library/library.htm
          Phone:     (503) 675-2537 
          Fax:           (503) 635-4171 
          E-mail:      dburt at ci.oswego.or.us