ALA on Children's Internet Access

[Robert J. Tiess]

For whatever reason (but certainly not for lack
of coffee <g>) I was having a bit of trouble
this morning reconciling the following story

  ALA President Holds Discussions with Filtering Software Manufacturers
  http://www.ala.org/alonline/news/1999/990315.html

with what I thought was the official ALA position:

  Free Access to Libraries for Minors
  http://www.ala.org/alaorg/oif/free_min.html

which says, among other things

  "Librarians and governing bodies should maintain
  that parents - and only parents - have the right
  and the responsibility to restrict the access
  of their children - and only their children - to
  library resources." - ALA

as well as Paragraph V of the ALA Library Bill
of Rights, which states

  "A person's right to use a library should not be
  denied or abridged because of origin, age,
  background, or views."
  http://www.ala.org/work/freedom/lbr.html

The news story (posted via an ALA publication,
btw) concludes on a most intersting suggestion:

  "The meeting was the clearest indication to
  date that Association leaders think some forms
  of filtering children’s Internet access can
  be implemented...." - American Libraries,
  "News briefs for March 15, 1999"

Somewhat confusing, to this reader.

[A side note:  This post is tranmitted simply in
hopes of clarifying the "official position," not
to reinstate any particular debates on the issue
at hand.  Thank you.]


R. Tiess

rjtiess at warwick.net
http://members.tripod.com/~rtiess