Atlanta Journal-Constitution
"A library which allows sexually explicit materials to be viewed on the Internet," she said, "is no different from an adult sex shop, except that at the library, children are present and taxpayers are footing the bill." . . . more
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4 comments:
The library may use filters to make existing book collection policies extend over the Internet. See US v. ALA, US Supreme Court, 2003.
Further, unfiltered access likely violates the library's enabling statute and is therefore unlawful. A library board allowing unlawful activity is acting ultra vires and its usual independence from the government may be pierced so the government may step in and order a stop to the illegality. If the library board persists in violating the law, if that is the case, I suggest getting the government to carefully examine the library's enabling statute and the case of US v. ALA, then act accordingly.
Do not be fooled by misinformation reraising issues already asked and answered in US v. ALA. And even if the library does not accept federal funding, that does not make US v. ALA moot.
I will be happy to help anyone with questions. Contact me at http://www.SafeLibraries.org/
The ACLU was on the same side as the ALA in US v. ALA and also lost. However, the ACLU has recently said in a case overruling COPA (not CIPA) that filters are extremely effective nowadays, and the judge agreed. ACLU v. Gonzales, E.D. Pa., March 2007. Indeed, filters were so effective that is was the very reason COPA was overruled. The ACLU expert testified to this.
The ACLU has moved on--it's now time for the ALA to move on. And local libraries advising people in ways already proven wrong need to move on as well.
Thanks for commenting. I don't have the legal background to be able to respond to all of your points. I will say that I think libraries should provide teens with a safe environment that gives them the time and space to process the messages they're bombarded with all day long, and I wish we could all do more to let teens talk about what they're thinking and feeling. I also think it's strange that a 12-year-old is considered a "young adult."
JL
John, you are correct.
Now see how the ALA disagrees with you. You said, for example, "I think libraries should provide teens with a safe environment...." Contrast that with this: "I get very concerned when we start hearing people who want to convert this country into a safe place for children." That's the 40 year de facto leader of the ALA saying that in response to the Village of Oak Lawn's (IL) efforts to remove Playboy magazine from the Oak Lawn Public Library. Despite what the Village did, Playboy remains available to children as a direct result of top ALA leadership defying local control.
The real question is, will Gwinnett County residents allow the ALA and its local acolytes to control the public library like they do in Oak Lawn? Is there no end to the libraries that follow ALA policy despite local policy? Does Gwinnett County want to be the next Oak Lawn?
I think Playboy is a pretty worthless publication overall, although they used to publish a lot of important authors back in the 60s and 70s. I think that mag gave me and every other boy I knew totally wrong information about women and sex, that both are there purely for men's entertainment and nothing more.
I have seen some discussion of where to keep magazines like that on the PubLib discussion group. It seems like, if libraries do carry Playboy, they keep it behind the desk, which is pretty much what they do in gas stations, I guess.
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