Providence Revises Filter Policy

Critical ACLU report prompts Providence library to grant adults greater access

By Kathy Ishizuka -- School Library Journal, 7/1/2005

The Providence (RI) Public Library has altered its Internet-filtering policy, allowing adult patrons easier access to material online. The move follows an American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Rhode Island report, which criticized the library for exceeding requirements of the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) and inappropriately restricting access to constitutionally protected material.

“When we implemented filtering, we blocked three categories: adult content, sex, and nudity,” says Tonia Mason, a library spokesperson. “The ACLU suggested that the 'nudity’ category was not necessary for [CIPA] compliance.” Consequently, the library has removed the block on nudity. The library will also be more vigilant in informing computer users of their option to have the Internet filter turned off, she says. And a statement on the blocking screen will tell users to ask the librarian if they wish to view a blocked site.

The 10-branch Providence library is the largest of the 48 member systems of the Cooperating Libraries Automated Network (CLAN), which manages network systems for the state’s public libraries. With the advent of CIPA, which requires libraries to filter Internet content as a condition of eligibility for federal funds, CLAN began administering Internet filtering in 2004.

The April report by ACLU, “Reader’s Block,” cited the Providence library, among other CLAN members, for incidents of over blocking.

But at the Warwick Public Library, which was criticized in the report for blocking “gambling” and “gaming” sites, they’re not changing policy. “We feel it’s a question of using resources,” says Carol Drought, Warwick’s deputy director. “If people are sitting at the computer viewing gambling sites—it’s more of a time allocation thing.”