CDA

[Burt, David]

Jim Hurd wrote:

>If a libraian tried to keep legally availble information away from
>my children, I would have a law suit in their face before he/she could
say
>"Jerry Falwell."  You can talk about *your* children, but don't talk
about
>*our* children.  There is no us, pal.

As librarians, we keep legally available information away from children
all the time:
It's called non-selection.  If you believe as Ronnie and I do, that
filtering is basically the equivalent of non-selection, then there are
no legal issues here, and no basis for a lawsuit.

Many public libraries also have age restrictions on books and other
materials.  In many libraries, such as The New York Public Library,
children are not allowed to check out adult materials if the
parent/guardian has blocked the child's card in such a manner.  That may
violate ALA doctrine, but it doesn't violate the law.

While there has been much wailing and gnashing of teeth from the Mass.
and Florida CLUs about filing lawsuits to stop filtering, so far, zippo.
I'm pretty skeptical that "removal of materials from a library" can be
strechhhhhhhed to mean "blocking of access to remote materials outside a
library".  I'll believe it when I see it.

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