Pull the plug -- libraries aren't common carriers

[Burt, David]

Nick Arnett wrote:

>The library censorship discussion assumes that because a personal computer
>connected to the Internet can retrieve any resource without incremental
>cost, any restriction of that ability constitutes censorship.  This is
>contrary to the value proposition of the library.  Offering unlimited
>Internet access to the public is inappropriate for libraries and devalues
>their role to that of a common carrier, rather than an institution of
>intellectual value that has related technical skills.  I'm going to suggest
>that libraries pull the plug on the Internet until there is a technical
>solution that allows them to apply their intellectual skills, which is
>their primary value to the community.  Librarians who oppose censorship have
>chosen the wrong enemy; they should oppose the implicit view of the
>librarian as mere technician.

While I think your modest proposal is a classic case of
baby-out-with-the-bath-water, you make some trenchant points.

For the last couple of years, the issue of Internet access has been put
in terms of  an "everything or nothing" false dichotomy.  The mere
suggestion of considering any kind of selection/restriction at all has
been condemned as censorship, and the proponents of such ideas shouted
down back into silence.  Complex, difficult issues are much easier to
deal with if you insist on phrasing them in completely black/white
terms.  It is as if a seminar on the Cold War were limited to "the
entire Cold War was simply about the battle of Good vs. Evil".  But this
is really intellectual laziness and an unwillingness to confront
difficult issues.

It's time for the real debate on Internet access to begin.  Nick's post
is a good start.

          ***********************************************************
          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) 635-0392 
          Fax:           (503) 635-4171 
          E-mail:      dburt at ci.oswego.or.us