A How-To for Fighting Content Filters
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Lauren Barack -- School Library Journal, 01/19/2010
Buffy Hamilton believes school librarians should never take online content filters at face value. When presented with a digital roadblock, media specialists should instead devise reasoned, well-resourced arguments with which to open these doors.“I think in some cases, out of an effort to be proactive, keep children safe, and avoid litigation, schools may be erring on the safe side,” says Hamilton, the school librarian for Creekview High School in Canton, GA. “I think what librarians are calling for is a way to have a more active voice in that decision-making process.”
Such is the impetus for Hamilton’s “Fighting the Filter” webinar. Originally developed for the Central Jersey Regional Library Cooperative, Hamilton conducted the online seminar live last week, but it’s archived.
The primary takeaway from the one-hour chat? A strategy in which school librarians can persuade decision-makers that blocked sites actually support educational standards of their state, as well as benchmarks created by the American Association of School Librarians (AASL), and International Society for Education in Technology (ISTE).
Hamilton, who runs the popular blog The Unquiet Librarian, has undergone the process herself, having recently petitioned her school district for access to online bookmarking and research site Diigo.“I outlined how it can be used, offered links to other articles that showed it as beneficial, including a list from AASL that listed it as one of the top 25 tools for educators,” Hamilton says. “It was unblocked.”
But Hamilton believes that once access is granted, school librarians have a responsibility to share how they’re using that tool with their school administrators as well as other media specialists.
“If you take the time to blog what you did with something, you might inspire [other school librarians],” says Hamilton. “Or even turn them into a best practice that might make the case to help give someone access to it, too.”
