Electronic Brown Wrapper

[Burt, David]

DEIRDRE F. WOODWARD wrote:

>I am shocked and saddened at the number of people on this list who support
>filtering in libraries.  It is the library's function to provide
>information, not determine what kind of information will be provided.

Wrong.  Librarians have always made global judgments for their users
about what materials are appropriate for their libraries, and what
behaviors are appropriate in libraries.  Public libraries do not carry
subscriptions to "Hustler" or copies of "Deep Throat", because they are
not judged by the librarian to be appropriate.  A librarian probably
would not allow a patron to sit and peruse a stack of pornographic
magazines in a public reading room either.  We let users choose which
library materials are appropriate for them, but we have always
restricted those choices.  That's part of our jobs, that's what they pay
us for.

>but if I, a  patron, comes into a library and asks for information on
cliterodectomies,
>sodomy, bomb making, NAMBLA, neo-Nazi propoganda, beastiality, or any other
>type of information, the library's function is to help me find the
>information I am looking for.  That doesn't mean the library needs to sink
resources >into purchasing these materials, nor does it mean that the
library supports in any >way the information I am seeking.  All the
library does is provide me with access to >the information via 1)
interlibrary loans of the material I am requesting, or 2) >resources I
can turn to for more information.

Not so.  I would not fill an ILL request for the NAMBLA newsletter or
the Fun with Animals Times.  The ILL analogy is very telling: you would
not only would not fill an ILL request for Hustler, you COULD NOT,
because no library carries it.  That's the point: it's out of bounds.
Sorry, but that's the truth: some information is out of bounds to public
libraries and their patrons, always has been.


>Selection is not about denying patrons access to information.

Wrong.  Selection is *exactly* about making choices about what info you
will provide and what info you won't .  Do you have "Hustler" in your
library?  Why do you suppose you don't?  It's popular.  There's a demand
for it.  It's "giving them what they want"?  Why don't you carry it?


>Filtering is telling a patron that no, the library will not interlibrary
>loan a book because the library finds it objectionable.  How many librarians
on
>this list support that practice?  Filtering is crossing out all the
>objectionable subjects, authors and titles in the Books in Print volumes, so
the >patron cannot find certain information.  How many librarians on
this list support
>that practice?

Weak analogies.  Where is "Debbie Does Dallas" in OCLC?  Where is
"Sorority Slut Gang Bang" in Books In Print?  You're comparing things
that aren't comparable.


>You can't have access to the Internet without simultaneously having access to
all >the information on the Internet; the two are inseparables.

Wrong again.  What's a proxy server then?  What about if your Internet
terminal is text-only?  Haven't you then separated out the graphical
information?  What if you do not, as some libraries do, install a telnet
client?  Haven't you separated out the telnetable resources?  And Chat
clients?  What about the fee-based resources?  Aren't those separated
out?


> If people don't want to allow other people access to
>information (what a ridiculous idea! In the United States of America! Who
>has the gall, the *ego*, to assume the job of disallowing others access to
>information?) then those people should object not to this site or that
>site, but to the very concept of the Internet. How many libararians on this
list
>support that practice?

I have the gall to stand up for the rights of librarians to choose the
type of Internet access they and their patrons want.  It's about
responsible use of library resources, and providing a good service to
our patrons, instead of tax dollar supported peep show booths for the
public, including children.

The American Library Association Office of Intellectual Freedom and the
other anti-filtering activists need to acknowledge that filtering is a
legitimate policy option, and that librarians have the right to choose
the type of Internet access they and the communities they serve want.

  ***********************************************************
          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