Balancing Filters and Freedom
RSSLibrarians at ALA's midwinter meeting reluctant to dilute their strong support of intellectual freedom
Staff -- School Library Journal, 03/01/2000
Is it all right for young people to view pornography on library Net stations? Right-wing leaders have long charged that the American Library Association condones viewing porn, while ALA has sidestepped the question in its formal statements, stressing its commitment to intellectual freedom and the responsibility of parents to monitor what their children view. But a January 14 Wall Street Journal editorial brought the charge squarely into the mainstream. After quoting ALA President Sarah Ann Long, who said, "The American Library Association has never endorsed the viewing of pornography by children or adults," the editorial replied, "Problem is, it's never endorsed their not viewing it, either. Quite the opposite."
The debate continued as ALA gathered for its midwinter meeting in San Antonio, TX, in January. Oregon State Librarian Jim Scheppke placed a resolution before the board of the Chief Officers of State Library Agencies (COSLA), an independent library organization. This resolution requested that ALA revise its 1996 policy on access to the Internet--which currently reads, "The rights of minors shall be in no way abridged"--to read "Only parents and legal guardians have the right and responsibility to restrict their children's and only their own children's access to any electronic resource." Scheppke says he wanted ALA to state clearly that parents have this right.
COSLA's board took no action on the resolution, although Scheppke hopes it will in the future. "It's time to move on from this issue," he says, noting that in many smaller communities library budgets are in jeopardy due to negative press over kids' access to the Internet in libraries.
ALA's Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) board also debated, and passed, a "Statement of Commitment to Excellence in Library Service to Children in a Technological Age" (www.ala.org/alsc/techstatement.html).
The statement, drafted by ALSC President Caroline Ward and Vice President/President-elect Virginia Walter, initially contained language acknowledging a general need to protect children from inappropriate material. But members of the ALSC board, Ward says, "felt strongly that the onus should be on the parents," and the final statement mentions only the phrase "potentially harmful material" once.
When asked why ALSC refused to state clearly that children should not access pornography in libraries, Ward says she was uncertain "whether a national organization is going to be able to put together an ideal statement" on Net access. "I'm not sure I'd want to see ALSC saying, 'Maybe in some cases filtering is all right.' Maintaining a standard is important," Ward says.
The statement as passed stresses the librarian's role in "compiling and recommending quality Web sites for children." Florida State University associate professor Eliza Dresang, who had objected to language diluting ALA's commitment to intellectual freedom, says, "It is not the job of librarians to protect children. We provide access to information. We know that filters don't protect them; we can't even agree what we want to protect children from."--Walter Minkel
