Censorship absolutism: A contrarian position

[Burt, David]

Paul Neff wrote:

>The point of the analogy is not the image of librarians rifling through
>backpacks, but that the ability of patrons to choose what they view is
>being denied when we filter sites without telling them.

I understand your position, but I  feel that when use of the Internet in
a library is a limited commodity, making some reasonable choices about
what portions of the Internet you offer amounts to good use of public
funds, and responsible selection.  Obviously, the resources and
technology to do this aren't perfect and in some cases aren't yet
possible, and cutting out huge swaths of the Internet is something that
should be done with great care and thoughtfulness.

But I do think it's something we should be willing to consider, if not
now, then at some future date.

>I think it's more useful to think of an Internet connection as part of
>the facility rather than a collection, which is in fact how it's budgeted
>and managed by libraries almost all of the time.

You could certainly look at it that way.  Some librarians argue that the
Internet is a service, rather that a collection or resource.
But I think you also need to consider that the Internet is first and
foremost a collection of sites containing information, and therefore is
most like an extension of the library's collection.

For some more interesting discussion on Internet analogies, see the
article in today's NY Times,   " What Level of Protection for Internet
Speech?" March 24, 1997, available on line at:

 http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/032497decency.html


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