Dear Editor:
In response to Doug Meier’s column, I’d like to make a few
comments. Actually, Doug, we have not worked for years to install
content filters on public Internet terminals.
Dear Editor:
In response to Doug Meier’s column, I’d like to make a few comments. Actually, Doug, we have not worked for years to install content filters on public Internet terminals. We did work for years, though, to prevent minors from accessing and being exposed to pornography on public library Internet terminals.
We know Internet filtering is not perfect. Not much is. But fences keep most kids out of construction sites and age restrictions keep many children from obtaining alcohol and cigarettes and seatbelts do prevent many injuries in car accidents.
So, site filtering on Internet terminals in the children’s area does a better job of keeping minors safe from pornography than no filtering. If we used “perfect” as the guideline, we would have to do away with most protections we have in place for minors. And protection for minors is necessary because the library fully believes minors have the full rights of adults when it comes to material in the library, regardless of age, type or content of material. Article V in the “Library Bill of Rights” states, “A person’s right to use a Library should not be denied or abridged because of origin, age, background, or views.”
They offer the following as their own interpretation of this Article:
“Library policies and procedures which effectively deny minors equal access to all library resources available to other users violate the Library Bill of Rights. The American Library Association opposes all attempts to restrict access to library services, materials, and facilities based on the age of library users.”
“Librarians have a professional commitment to ensure that all members of the community they serve have free and equal access to the entire range of library resources regardless of content, approach, format, or amount of detail. This principle of library service applies equally to all users, minors as well as adults.”
The State of California has laws that make it illegal to provide pornography to a minor. It requires blinder racks in stores to prevent minors from viewing pornography on magazine covers. But were you aware that the library will give an 8-year-old child a Playboy magazine if they choose to read it? A Gilroy librarian told me Gilroy does not carry them anymore. They kept getting stolen. A few years back, the Milpitas Library (one of the libraries in our county library system) did carry them and when asked, said they would give them to any library patron, regardless of age.
If you don’t believe me, ask Gilroy librarian, Lani Yoshimura. This same library belief system will also prevent you from monitoring your 8-year-old child’s library record at the counter.
The library’s philosophical belief system is what I stand opposed. I will not support a library system whose policies allow all materials to all regardless of age.
The “in-full-view arrangement of Internet terminals” was developed because of the pressure the “self-appointed Porn Panic Brigade” placed on the library. And we did this because the library used their American Library Association policies to place computers in relative isolation, using privacy screens and other devices to prevent anyone from seeing what minors or adults were accessing on the Internet.
And so Doug, if you believe the library’s “policy of dealing with rare incidents of porn surfing through behavior management” commendable, then we will just accept your thank you for the work these “deluded do-gooders” have done.
I do hope you enjoy the small amount of protection our work affords your kids in the children’s area of the library.
During the early years, I witnessed an adult printing out pornography to a collection of youngsters on an Internet terminal on the children’s side. Hopefully, your children will never be in a similar situation.
Sandi Zappa, Gilroy
Submitted Wednesday, April 14 to ed****@ga****.com
